The supermarket chains announced significant price cuts on fresh meat starting in September, but the holiday sales appeared to have only lasted for a short period. A "Globes" investigation showed that prices jumped immediately after Rosh Hashana.
The price increases are a result of the halting of meat imports from Poland and Argentina, in a manner which allows local brands to return to their previous high prices.
A sirloin steak imported from Poland by Tnuva sold for NIS 99.90 per kg before Rosh Hashana, while the "Adom Adom" sirloin steak, also from Tnuva, sold for NIS 139 per kg.
But now, with the supply of Polish steaks long gone, the prices returned to their normal level. Today, a sirloin steak at Mega costs NIS 160 per kg - 60% higher than its Polish alternative and 15% higher than the same exact steak on Rosh Hashana eve.
Part of the reason for the lowered costs was the launching of Shufersal's fresh meat brand - "Angus" - which is imported from Argentina.
In response, Tnuva announced it would import fresh meat from Poland and lower its price on "Adom Adom" - fresh meat made in Israel from imported cattle.
Tnuva only imported 100 tons of fresh meat - a drop in the bucket given the massive demand. In the week ahead of Rosh Hashana eve, Israelis bought 1,400 tons of fresh meat.
The last delivery from Poland was in stores on September 16, while Shufersal's last delivery reached the shelves in the past few days.
The import from Poland and Argentina is expected to resume in late October or early November because the Kashrut supervisors returned to Israel for the holidays. Thus, it is likely the high prices will stay through the end of October, when the competition will heat up again.
A delivery of fresh Polish meat is also expected in early November for Baladi, which promised to commit to low prices.
Chicken shortage
Meanwhile, there is a shortage of fresh poultry, with the shortage expected to worsen on the eve of Sukkot. It is possible that most supermarkets and butchers will not have any chicken for sale because there is no poultry slaughtering for seven consecutive days from Yom Kippur eve until after the first Sukkot holiday.
The halt occurred because of the timing of the holidays and because Thursday is Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday, and no chickens will be slaughtered today.
The shelf life of fresh chicken in Israel is 5-6 days, with only export-approved slaughterhouses allowed to sell chicken with a 6-day life span; thus, simple math dictates that - excluding exceptional cases - no chain should still have fresh chicken by Sunday.
Hatzi Hinam and Stop Market, however, will have fresh chicken in stock because Off-Oz agreed to slaughter chicken on Saturday night at a small, independent meatworks.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 24, 2015
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