Last update - 00:00 28/09/2006
Price of lulavs soars due to shortage ahead of Sukkot holiday
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset Economics Committee on Thursday called on the government to regulate the prices of the lulav, one of the four species used in the daily prayer services during the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The committee's request comes in response to a severe lulav shortage in Israel, which results in rapidly escalating prices.
The chairman of the committee, MK Moshe Kahlon (Likud) said "nearly every year there is a shortage, or the semblance of a shortage, of the four species. Therefore, we must consider instituting regulations to prevent the hiking of prices. The committee insists the Ministry of Agriculture provide the public with these products at a reasonable price."
MK Zevulon Orlev (NRP) who initiated the discussion, said that the price of a lulav has catapulted from NIS 20-30 to NIS 200 this holiday season.
Orlev warned Egypt may cease lulav export into Israel, and explained that rumors of the formation of a cartel, as well as foreign decisions in conflict with the laws of Judaism are delaying the lulav importation.
MK Kahalon said the committee may recommend to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz that his office inspect lulav importation processes.
Representatives of the lulav importers attributed the rise in lulav prices to the cost of gaining a Mahedrin Kosher certification, as well as the special packaging in which the Kosher lulav must be transported in order for it to retain its certification. The importers added that the disposal of thousands of lulavs within Israel, for fear of contagious diseases, was also a factor in the price rise.
General Manager of the Ministry of Agriculture, Yael Shaltiel, asserted that there is actually no shortage of lulavs, only marketing problems. According to Shaltiel, importation licenses granted, as well as local manufacture both surpass the demand for lulavs in Israel. She explained that there are enough date palms, from which the lulav is made, in the Jordan valley to produce over 600,000 lulavs In addition to these, more than 200,000 were brought in from Jordan and an additional 50,000 from the Gaza Strip.
After diseases that broke out in palm tree groves in Egypt were discovered, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to dispose of mass quantities of lulavs, and then arranged for lulavs to be imported from Spain.
Orlev didn't accept the Agriculture Ministry's explanation, and demanded the ministry provide a full supply of lulavs at a reasonable price. According to Orlev, the demand for lulavs this Sukkot should reach 500,000.