To combat the shortage, Finance Minister Betzalel Smotritch has decided to lift the tariffs on imported milk. They currently stand at 40%, essentially meaning importing milk is blocked, as no company will import milk at such a high cost, as it is not economically viable. Removing the tariffs entirely, for an initial period of three months, opens the market for milk imports. Milk in Europe is significantly cheaper than in Israel.
That being said, there are more challenges to importing milk than just the pricing.
Milk companies abroad will have to get kashrut certification. Sounds easy enough but it will be a challenge. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel does not allow the import of real milk (cholov nochri), only milk powder. And general producers of milk are generally not cholov yisrael, and the ones that are are usually more expensive, and also seem to have a shorter shelf life. So only cholov yisrael milk will be imported? Is there enough cholov yisrael milk in Europe available for import to make a dent in the Israeli market? Will the Rabbanut send mashgichim to dairy farms to supervise cholov yisrael milk the way they send to South America and other places for shechita? Will the imported milk prices still be relatively low after all those additional costs?
There are also practical issues such as the amount of time it takes to import milk, between the various regulations and bureaucracies and the amount of shipping and distribution time - when it hits the shelf will it already be spoiled or will it have, at best, an extremely short shelf life? The importers have requested regulation changes to make import faster to assist with this, but that has not yet been approved.
And possibly most importantly, if they turn this into a permanent arrangement, which would be great for the consumer, this will be heading to a massive political battle as local dairy farmers have been protected with their production. This will hurt local production and they have a strong lobby.
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Why in the world would there be a shortage of milk in EY? With all the dairy farms.
ReplyDeleteThere must be more behind this. In Europe, they're trying to kill off the cows because
they don't want to allow any more dairy products, nor meats. A world turned upside down.
Milk must be supervised as it can be derived from any animal, such as camel milk, etc.
A number of years ago, there was an article in an American newspaper that in Chicago, there was milk being sold from camels, c'v. Nowadays, everything is up for grabs and must be checked.
every now and then there are shortages. I dont know what caused the current shortage.
DeleteCamel milk costs about a $100 per liter in the USA. They would be crazy to switch cow milk with camel milk.
DeleteThomsa, this was a true story. There are many 'halal' stores in the big cities in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThere was an actual article on this. Don't know if they closed it down because
I think there is a law in the land that only milk from cows can be sold.
even if true, I do not think camel milk being sold as camel milk affects the status of cholov nochri milk
DeleteIs camel milk legal in the United States?
DeleteIn 2012, the Food and Drug Administration ruled that camel milk could be sold in the United States. But for sales to be legal, they must comply with the same state licensing requirements as other dairies in their state, with all of the necessary food safety and health standards in place.
If I were secular, I'd go through the roof. Here we have a beautiful reform that solves a problem but the solution can't be implemented because of the rabbinate. How is that not insane?
ReplyDeleteאם כך, למה חסר חלב על המדפים?
ReplyDeleteאין מחסור בחלב על המדפים, אלא רק חוסר בחלב במחיר מפוקח. מדובר בחלב 1% או 3%, בשקית או בקרטון, שמחירו נקבע על ידי ועדת המחירים של משרד האוצר. כך לדוגמא מחיר ליטר חלב 3% שומן בקרטון עומד היום על 6.35 שקלים. יש בישראל גם חלב שאינו מפוקח, לדוגמה, חלב דל או נטול לקטוז, חלב 2%, חלב "מועשר" וכולי.
אז למה חסר חלב במחיר מפוקח על המדפים?
במחיר הנוכחי, לא רווחי לייצר חלב מפוקח. לדברי גורמים בתנובה, קווי הייצור של החלב המפוקח אפילו נוטים להיות הפסדיים. המרווח בין עלות ייצור החלב למחיר המפוקח שבו הוא נמכר לקמעונאים, לא מצדיק את ייצורו ושיווקו. החלטה זו נובעת מקביעת מחיר החלב המפוקח, שנעשית על ידי האוצר.