Cottage Cheese Prices Jump at Carrefour and Other Chains Amid Shortages

For the past three weeks, cottage cheese has been scarce on shelves, and some Israeli supermarket chains have sharply raised prices, especially Carrefour. Dairy companies Tnuva, Strauss and Tara had announced increases before Shavuot, but only by 1.2% at Strauss and 2.9% at Tara, not the 4% to 6% rises consumers saw in some stores.

At Carrefour, Tara and Strauss cottage cheese was marked up by as much as 16.2%. In Carrefour Market and Carrefour Market under stricter kashrut supervision, Tara cottage cheese rose from 6.80 shekels to 7.90 shekels, a jump of 1.10 shekels. Across Carrefour's formats, Tara was sold at 7.90 shekels in most branches, 6.90 shekels in Carrefour Hyper, and still cost less at yellow and am:pm, which charge 7.50 shekels. Strauss cottage cheese was also raised in most Carrefour stores from 7 to 7.90 shekels, while Tnuva cottage cheese was left unchanged and still sold for 5.40 shekels in 52 branches under the Economy Ministry's cheapest-basket program.

Other chains that increased prices included Hazi Hinam, am:pm, Wolt Market, Mashbir, Fresh Market, Kulinarik, Shuk Ha'ir, King Store, Polizer, Stop Market, Maayan 2000, Quick Online, Netiv Hachesed, Yellow, Alonit, Keshet Ta'amim, Shira Market, Shefa Brakat Hashem, Super Bareket, Super Sapir, Super Yuda and Super Hahaviv. By contrast, major chains such as Osher Ad, Victory, Yohananof and Shufersal did not raise prices, and several others also held steady. Carrefour did not respond to the report.