According to the office, in early December, the Israeli Ministryof Finance and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development agreed to abolishimport quotas for a wide range of dairy products, including low-fat yogurt andcheese, in a bid to reduce the price of dairy products for Israeli consumers.
The move will allow the market to open to the free import ofproducts from European countries, with the average price per kilogram of yogurtconsumed in Israel falling to 8.5 NIS from the previous price of 17 NIS.
The Israeli Ministry of Finance estimated that the abolitionof the quota will reduce the prices of imported cheese by about 25 percent fromthe current state-controlled prices in Israel, cutting the consumer prices byabout 10 NIS per kg and still protecting the domestic agriculture./.