Tera CEO in the Economic Committee: “We cannot continue to lose”

“Nothing has fallen in the milk market in the last year. The price of raw milk has reached unprecedented prices with an increase of about 20%, while the prices of the regulated products for the consumer, which are supposed to maintain the balance in this market, have not risen accordingly. The scenario of the collapse of dairies in the north could also repeat in the south (Dairy Terra in Netivot, NK)”, said Tal Vazana, CEO of Terra, which is owned by the main company (Coca Cola Israel), in a discussion at the Economic Committee that convened today to discuss the state of the dairy industry.

According to him, “Tera is suffering huge losses. We cannot continue this activity. If we want to monitor the chain, it should be monitored throughout. It is not possible for us to absorb these losses. In Israel, only two dairies produce products under supervision: Tnuva and Tara. The third dairy who tried to produce controlled products is The Golan Heights that fell into insolvencyWith these words, Vazena signaled that Terra, which has already reduced the production of products under supervision, intends to completely stop producing loss-making products.

The chairman of the committee, MK David Bitan, asked the finance representatives to find a way to absorb the increase in price, so that the prices for the consumer do not rise: “The discussion was intended to find ways to lower prices, and now it turns out that we need to find ways to prevent further price increases. So as you have found a solution to curb the spike in the price of fuelyou will find a way to do it in milk.” Treasury representative Gilad Katsav replied: “We have taken steps such as canceling customs duties on mozzarella and halloumi and additional steps will be taken.”

According to Anat Gros-Shon, CEO of Tnuva’s dairy division, if the state transfers direct support to dairy farmers and the price of raw milk drops by 20%, the dairy will be able to lower the prices of consumer products by about 15%.

But it’s not only the manufacturers of the products that are under supervision who threaten not to continue to absorb the increase in the price of raw milk. Amir Aharon, CEO of Gad Dairies, which operates in the premium category, warned against the policy of encouraging imports and the damage it could cause to dairy farmers: “We can bring any cheese from Eastern Europe and support farmers in Poland. The target price increased by 24% and we paid the dairy farmers, without raising prices, until recently. On the other hand, the regulator signed an agreement to open the mozzarella market for imports. So in the end, we will tell you where we should go, but what will happen to the dairy farmers? The ship is slowly sinking, and this is happening right after we discovered in Corona that we must take care of food security ourselves. Therefore, growers should be supported through government subsidies.”