Of money
news
300 workers at risk: Will Israel's largest cannabis plant close?
Exclusive: Basalt Pharma plans to close its production plant in Or Akiva and move it to Portugal.
The fate of the 300 workers is unknown.
CEO: "I returned from a tour of Portugal where I realized how much the State of Israel is abusing the local cannabis industry, which is affected by ego struggles between government ministries"
Tags
Cannabis
Medical Cannabis
Portugal
Sharan the mind
Roast Greenberg
Friday, 19 November 2021, 08:50 Updated: 09:14
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
Will the Israeli cannabis industry emigrate to Portugal? Basalt Pharma announces that it intends to close its production plant in the city of Or Akiva, which is the largest cannabis plant in Israel, and transfer it to Portugal. This is what Walla! Of money'.
Basalt Pharma employs about 300 people, for whom the company has not yet decided which of them will be required to operate in Portugal, which is expected to be completed in about 10 months to a year. The company also owns an agricultural breeding farm for medical cannabis in Kibbutz Sdot Yam, whose activities will remain.
Meir Ariel, CEO of Basalt Pharma
, confirmed this to Walla! Money, saying, "We have decided to transfer the production activity to Portugal with great sorrow. But there is a difficulty for the local cannabis industry to operate in Israel due to frequent regulatory changes and various burdens, including tax increases and over-regulation, imposed on entrepreneurs and practitioners in the field.
For example, we are in the process of investing NIS 180 million in establishing all our activities in Israel, and all we received as help from the state was a NIS 900,000 grant from the Innovation Authority, while in Portugal we were already promised 90% of the investment back by the EU.
We had concerns about Portugal because we are Israelis and in fact we will be foreigners there, but we discovered that the entire medical cannabis industry in Portugal is run by Israelis, who decided to set up operations in Portugal, due to the difficulties they experienced in Israel.
I returned from a tour of Portugal where I realized how much the State of Israel is abusing the local cannabis industry, which is affected by ego struggles between government ministries.
We understood that being a foreigner in Portugal is better than being a local in Israel. "
More on Walla!
No magic, but there are tips: How do you progress at work and build a career?
To the full article
A store selling medical cannabis in Tel Aviv.
Is the industry in Israel in danger of closing?
(Photo: Reuven Castro)
In Europe, entrepreneurs from Israel are being embraced
Ariel continues in his accusations against those who are supposed to lead the industry cannabis Israel: "ego inside the Israeli state are destroying everything good in Israel, and destroyed the cannabis. Therefore, more and more industries are leaving Israel.
Now that the Arrangements Law passed allowing export of raw materials out we plan to transfer all production of final products Portugal, and carry out, in practice, all operations there. so instead of big money will be in Israel, and the country can benefit from taxes on it, who will enjoy Menem is Portugal.
instead the state should encourage employment for tens of thousands of workers would be absorbed in the industry cannabis Locally, it smuggles jobs to Portugal and the rest of Europe.Israel has proven to be a dream state and is dismantling the industry that was the first to identify and establish.
It is important for me to emphasize that the trip to Portugal illustrates how much the Europeans crave for industry and embrace the entrepreneurs while trying to find every way to help them as long as they create jobs for the residents, while in Israel they work just the opposite.
And it hurts.
"The absurdity is even greater, in light of the fact that Israel has the largest medical cannabis market in the world with about 100,000 patients, while Portugal is still in the process of establishing appropriate regulation for patients, which currently stands at only about 50."
Meir Ariel, founder and CEO of Basalt Pharma. What will the 300 residents of Or Akiva do if the plant moves to Portugal (Photo: Thea Productions and Design)
The industry is fleeing abroad
Basalt Pharma recently won a tender from the Moore Institute for the supply of medical cannabis products to about 50,000 Clalit HMO members who hold a license for medical cannabis treatment. This activity will continue through the company's trading house and the company's transportation and distribution company, which will remain operating in Israel.
Basalt Pharma will be the second medical cannabis plant to end its Israeli operations in favor of focusing on operations abroad. The pharmacy activity it held.
If the company does close its factory gates in Israel, along with Panaxia Israel's desire to relocate its operations abroad, there will be about 7 factories in Israel approved for activity by the HIKR (Medical Cannabis Unit in the Ministry of Health), most of which are not yet active.
It should be noted that above all 7 there is still a question mark in light of the bill of MK Sharan Hashakel, which lowers the charge for the passage of medical cannabis products in factories, thus making them redundant from the value chain of the field.
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments