The Israel Poultry Breeders Association has stopped delivering eggs to local supermarkets over a price dispute, and breeders have said that they will not supply the sector until the government increases egg prices by four agorot (US$0.01), according to reports.
The breeders are struggling to remain profitable in the wake of a 30 percent increase in chicken feed prices. If the price increase goes through, it will result in a 5 percent increase in costs for consumers. Both the finance minister and the agriculture minister must approve any change in egg prices.
“We have held off on the price increase for three months, and meanwhile we are absorbing the losses,” said Motti Elkabetz, head of the Poultry Breeders Association, who also said that the breeders delayed their protest out of consideration for the public. “We have no desire to become rich. We just want to live respectably. 3,000 families live off this industry, 2,000 on the confrontation line in the north. This is the only source of income for most of them, and without it their financial situation will become worse and worse.”
