An agreement signed Monday night between local dairy farmers and the Ministries of Agriculture and Treasury will allow for foreign imports in the dairy sector, Channel 2 reports. The aim of the agreement is to gradually reduce the target milk prices over an extended period of time while supporting local dairy farmers with grants and investment.
The agreement, which was reached only after lengthy debate and negotiations, is intended to regulate the dairy sector for the upcoming decade. In the framework of the agreement, prices of dairy products will be lowered, supporting grants and investments given, and the import market will be developed in tandem with a gradual lowering of import duties.
Within the framework of the agreement the target price for milk will decrease in the first year by an average of 4 agurot and in the last year by 20 agurot.
Beginning 2019, the import duty will be reduced to 4.9NIS a Kg. By the last year of the agreement the duty is expected to reach 3.2NIS with a maximum reduction to 3NIS depending on target prices of milk.
