Passover is over, and with it the period of promotions and the "freeze" of price increases by some of the largest food companies in the economy.
As you may recall, almost two months ago, some of the major food suppliers announced that they were postponing price increases until after the holiday due to the heavy public pressure exerted on them, and following the intervention of Ministers Barbibai and Lieberman.
A senior source in the food chain industry told "Israel Today" that suppliers have not contacted him for the purpose of raising prices these days.
"They did not contact us, except for what was in the previous incident. The consumer has no tool to know if the supplier is manipulatively raising, or there is no choice. We also try to stress the supplier and see who will break first. When he has a place he usually absorbs. "Let the manipulations play. We'll have to see what a day boy is."
The source explained that there are quite a few adverse effects, and it is difficult to assess whether the companies will rush to raise prices after the holiday.
"We saw that the one who was deterred by the price increase was a barn company that decided to absorb, even though there were increases in commodity prices, especially in cereals. The atmosphere is one of caution and fear of suppliers quarreling with the consumer.
The Osem company was the only one that completely eliminated the price increase it had planned.
In contrast, Diplomat, which imports Tuna Starkist, Jacobs coffee and Heinz ketchup, announced the postponement of price increases until after Passover.
Importer Stowitz also announced that it would increase the price of the Master Chef brand, as well as all toiletries imported by the company, until after Passover.
However, since the companies' announcements about two months ago, the war in Ukraine has been added, which has caused a jump in the prices of goods such as wheat, fuel and more.
In addition, the dollar jumped against the shekel, which could be an "excuse" for companies to raise prices.
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