Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, in coordination with Agriculture Minister Oded Forer, signed an order abolishing tariffs on soft dairy products and increasing duty-free quotas for hard cheeses, in a way that is expected to lower the prices of dairy products for Israeli consumers.
The order includes the complete abolition of caps on yogurts, dairy delicacies and cheeses up to 5% fat - the order will allow the market to open for free import of these products from European countries where the consumer price per kilogram of yogurt is about 8.5 NIS on average per kilogram, compared to NIS 17 per kilogram in Israel.
The order also includes an increase in duty-free quotas by 5,000 tons for the import of cheeses under the quota - the imported cheeses are expected to be about 25% cheaper than the regulated price in Israel, so the price to the consumer is expected to fall by about 10 NIS per kg.