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Israel: Supermarkets cry foul over chicken price-fixing

By  |  March 27, 2014

Top Israeli supermarket chains claim farmers and slaughterhouses have been manipulating chicken supplies to drive up prices for the last year-and-a-half, reports say.

One unnamed senior grocery store executive told reporters that chicken suppliers “are running a cartel, which drove up prices by dozens of percentage points.” Making the allegations worse, however, is that Israel antitrust law allows for farmers to coordinate prices.

In response to the backlash, farmers say they are simply looking to avoid a loss and have blamed supermarkets for passing on higher costs to consumers.

Reports say in the last decade fresh chicken product costs have increased by 27 percent. Now, supermarkets say, farmers are planning to gradually increase costs until Passover.

Full Content: Haaretz

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