Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture provided an interesting explanation for the lack of • Contrary to the Ministry of Finance position - planning in the egg sector will be retained and the decision to increase egg quotas will be rejected • MK Kahana: "Communist quota regime"

• The egg shortage continues

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  Joshua Joseph

Contrary to the Ministry of Finance's position - planning in the egg industry will be retained and the decision to increase egg quotas will be rejected, the Knesset Economics Committee said after a discussion. These are regulations that were relevant to 2018, so the high likelihood of egg shortages during the year - especially during the holiday periods, remains the same.

During the hearing, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture made a puzzling statement that the lack of eggs was not due to a shortage but to "excess demand". The representative also added that the planning policy only takes into account the average consumption, and therefore the existence of a shortage is not the result of a "failure" but of a regular policy. It should be noted that the Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the cancellation of quotas and the direct support of farmers will save NIS 2.3 billion a year on the Israeli economy.

MK Matan Kahana (right) called during the discussion to abolish the "communist" quota regime and described the coop industry as "a cartel that in a controlled state would have been considered a criminal offense." MK Yevgeny Suva (Israel Our House) also attacked the planning policy and stressed that "Blue and white produce does not justify high prices."

As revealed in "Israel Today," the Treasury recommends abolishing the production quota regime in the coop industry and opening the egg market for competition from abroad. "Our professional position is that the Coop Council Act should be amended and the quota regime used in this industry should be repealed, as is the case in most countries. The world, ”wrote Eli Morganstern, water coordinator, agriculture and ports in the Treasury.

He said, "The quota regime creates structural inefficiencies, resulting in tens of percent higher egg prices compared to world prices. Also, the quota regime is a major factor in creating egg shortages and harming civilians, which has come to the extreme recently."

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The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alon Schuster, commented on the results yesterday, saying: "In recent weeks there have been many discussions with all partners in the coop industry - including the professional echelons in the ministries - the poultry breeders from the center, the poultry breeders from the north, the chicken coop, the Israeli Settlement Association, "At the end of the discussions, it was felt that we needed more time to reach a relevant decision on the quota addition, which would benefit the long-term stability of the industry."