Monday, November 7, 2011

Bethel Finances: Mega launches store label imported cheese

www.bethelfinance.com

Alon Holdings Blue Square - Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI; TASE: BSI) supermarket chain Mega today launched store label yellow and feta cheese at its deli counters. The products will be marketed on store shelves in three months.

Mega decided to import cheeses through G. Willi-Food Investments Ltd. (TASE:WLFD), following the reduction in customs duty. Blue Square CEO Zeev Vurembrand told "Globes", "Anyone who wants us to lower prices must allow us to import more, and then we cash slash prices. Anyone who produces yellow cheeses cannot remain indifferent to the prices of imported products."

Mega is marketing Gouda cheese at a third of its market price - NIS 37.90 per kilogram compared with NIS 90-100 per kilogram. It will market a yellow cheese that corresponds to Tnuva Food Industries' Emek cheese at NIS 45.90 per kilogram, compared with NIS 54.90 per kilogram for Emek cheese, and NIS 60 kilogram for Tara Dairy's Meshek Tsuriel cheese. Tnuva also sells sheep cheese feta at a retail price of NIS 76.3 million.

Vurembrand added, "Gouda is the leading cheese in Europe, and sells for over NIS 100 per kilogram in Israel. We import Europe's leading cheese and sell for 10% less than Emek cheese, even though they cannot be compared. I believe that within three months, we will sell these cheeses sliced and packaged and that the shelf price will be 30% cheaper than Tnuva's Emek cheese."

"Globes": But Gouda has a negligible share of the market.

Vurembrand: "True, because of the price. I have no doubt that it will win at least a 15% share of Israel's yellow cheese market."

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