Lieberman and Forer plan: Immediate abolition of customs duties on fruits and vegetables

A draft order issued by the ministers states that the proposed order includes immediate abolition of customs duties on some fruits and vegetables, and the rest will be gradually reduced over six beats at a distance of five years.

"The expected savings from the reform are NIS 840 per year for every household in Israel," the statement said

Walla!

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23/12/2021

Thursday, 23 December 2021, 08:59 Updated: 09:13

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The Ministers of Agriculture and Finance, Oded Forer and Avigdor Lieberman, this morning (Thursday) published a draft order regarding reductions in tariffs on fruits and vegetables.

"The savings expected from the reform are NIS 840 per year for every household in Israel, which adds up to a total savings of about NIS 2.7 billion per year," the minister said in a statement.

The proposed order includes the immediate abolition of customs duties on a number of fruits and vegetables including avocados, garlic, peas, beans, figs, pineapples and artichokes, in order to immediately lower the consumption basket.

The rest of the caps on all fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables will be gradually reduced over six beats over a period of five years in order to allow Israeli agriculture to adapt to the new situation.

More on Walla!

Agriculture reform repeats: Will prices fall by tens of percent?

To the full article

Total savings of about NIS 2.7 billion a year (Photo: Chen Galili)

"We are moving from tariff protection to direct support and look forward to completing discussions with farmers' representatives in the coming weeks until the order is signed as part of the hearing," the agriculture minister said. "Opening the markets will lower the price to the consumer, expand the range of products and enable the development of local agriculture through direct subsidies and grants to farmers. I expect representatives of farmers' organizations for a fruitful discourse to formulate the best outline for direct support for local agriculture."

A statement from the ministers said that fruit and vegetable prices had skyrocketed by more than 80% in recent years. "Reducing customs duties will increase competitiveness in these industries and thus the Israeli consumer will benefit from a significant reduction in vegetable fruit prices; the expected savings from the reform are NIS 840 per year for every household in Israel, which adds up to a total saving of NIS 2.7 billion per year."

The reform also includes a broad support package for the agricultural industries, including direct budget support for each farmer, expansion of tax benefits for farmers through a law to encourage capital investments, support for marking the country of origin, lowering inputs for farmers and investing more than NIS 2 billion for innovation and raising productivity in agriculture.

This is in addition to investment and innovation grants for the purchase of innovative equipment and machines, collaborations with startups.

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• vegetables

• Avigdor Lieberman

• Oded Forer