Page 6 - E-Tone (07-17-18) Advenced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #1 (Advanced Level)

Where’s the ‘Watermelon for One NIS’?

Yariv Hajbi from the Marhavim Regional Council at the Negev walks

through his watermelon field these days, grabbing his head. And this is a

surreal image, for consumers will pay a lot of money for these, but they’ll
be tossed. The Israeli summer is affluent with watermelons, but unlike

previous years, this year a shortage is felt, and produce prices – they’re

climbing to new heights. Why are prices so high? A summer that’s too hot
and a too-violent virus that attacked the produce, and of course the

incomprehensible profit margins. But if you thought only watermelons are

expensive, the Ministry of Agriculture’s data suggest otherwise. According
to the Ministry’s website, the average price of grapes for the consumer in

two thousand seventeen was just under twelve and a half NIS per kilo. A
year later, the price has already climbed to fifteen NIS. The situation is the

same with apples – a year ago the price was almost nine NIS, this year it

soars to almost eleven. The same goes for the peaches too, which made the
biggest leap. And beyond the farmers, those who are obviously getting

hurt are the consumers, us, being forced to pay outrageous prices this year.

Page 6 - Edition 07-17-18
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