Orthodox shoppers at Shefa Shuk competitor Ra
Orthodox shoppers at Shefa Shuk competitor RaArutz Sheva: Flash 90

Prices for food are going up in Israel, with the country's largest supermarket chain, Shufersal, announcing Wednesday that it was raising prices across the board on thousands of products. The average price increase will be about 4% - although the chain said that the increases should be higher, because wholesale costs for products had risen more. Shufersal said it was absorbing the rest of the increase, adding that it would not raise prices on its house brand products.

In the past several weeks, large companies such as Tnuva and Unilever (which markets Telma brand products) have announced price increases on nearly all its products. They were this week joined by Osem, which said it was increasing prices on pastas, cereals, snack foods, coffee, and sauces that it markets. Soft drinks will cost more, too; Coca Cola announced that it was increasing the price of most of its products, including soft drinks, juices, and water.

Canned products made by Vita are set to increase in price, as will products from Hogla, which markets Huggies diapers, a variety of toilet paper and tissues, and other cleaning and paper products. And, as if that weren't enough, electricity prices in Israel are slated to rise 10% and more in the coming months.

There was one relatively bright spot for Israelis: The price of gasoline went down at midnight Wednesday. A liter of 95 octane gas at self-service pumps was cut 4.53% Wednesday night, and will cost NIS 7.94 (about $7.75 a gallon). The main reason for the cut was the lower value of the dollar versus the shekel in recent weeks.