Rami Levy: "I'm not going to raise prices" - Walla! money

Rami Levy. Promises that apart from the holiday promotions that end, there will be no price increase / Courtesy of Rami Levy

Against the backdrop of Diplomat's intention to raise the prices of its products on October 15, and the fear of a tsunami of price increases it will cause, says Rami Levy, owner of Rami Levy Shivuk Hashikma, whose chain will not raise prices.

"After the holidays, the holiday sales will end," Levy says, "and prices will return to what they were before. I do not intend to raise prices and there will be other promotions that will give new discounts. No need to stress."

Levy says he has not yet received the diplomat's new price list, so he cannot comment on it. Other retailers have already received the following letter, "In light of the increase in purchase prices from our suppliers, we are forced to announce a price update for some of the products we distribute. The increase will be a weighted percentage of 4.01% in toiletries, 3.37% in food. The consumer price is at the sole discretion of the retailer."

Despite the announcement of the relatively minor increase in prices, it turns out that the increase is much more significant. Fairey's dish cleaning products will increase by up to 25% and Ariel's laundry products by 13%. Among the brands that will not be expensive: Starkist, Milka, Oreo and Pampers.

Sources familiar with the details say that it is advisable to talk as little as possible about an "impending price tsunami," since this creates the expectation of imminent price increases, and importers and manufacturers are just waiting for the first opportunity to make products more expensive, as they intend to pull out the winning argument of the strengthening dollar and euro. This is the place to mention that even when there was a decline in the value of coins, not a single shekel was rolled over in the direction of the consumer.

Will it increase by 25%? Fairey dishwashing liquid, imported by diplomat/PR

Duty-free milk imports will continue

Meanwhile, next weekend, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is scheduled to sign an order that will lower tariffs on Niger milk imports for another six months, possibly reducing the shortage of supervised milk on the shelves, which worsened during the holiday season. Yesterday, The Marker reported that the Rabbinate intends to tighten supervision of dairy farms abroad, which may lead to an increase in the price of imported milk.

Rami Levy is not excited about the tightening of kashrut, but is more concerned if the reduction of tariffs on milk does not take effect soon. "We give the fancy kashrut of Rabbi Mahfoud and of Rabbi Shraga's Union of Haredim, which is strict kashrut, so I don't worry about importing milk going up. Kashrut is not the problem. The problem is the lack of milk.

"To date, we have imported over a million liters, 260,000 liters a week, at a price that is 12% lower than the price of supervised milk in Israel. Importation of milk with 40% customs duties, and for this more VAT and profit of retailers, is not worthwhile in any way.

"If I hadn't brought the imported milk into my chain, customers would feel the shortage, that customers at other chains feel, because there isn't enough supervised milk on the shelves and customers buy each carton for three shekels or more because they have no choice. I import the milk for lack of choice. If there was supervised milk here, I wouldn't get into it at all."

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In association with Galil

Extend the tax exemption on milk imports. Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich / Image processing, Niv Aharonson, Jonathan Zindel Flash 90

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