Amid coronavirus and Passover, Israel's food sales reach all-time high

As a result of the coronavirus, more Israelis remained at home for Passover than every before, while they might usually have been either vacationing abroad, visiting family or staying at hotels.

By AARON REICH
A woman shops at a supermarket in Jerusalem June 19, 2016. (photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
A woman shops at a supermarket in Jerusalem June 19, 2016.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
Food sales in Israel reached an all-time high in March 2020, with over NIS 4.36 billion spent on food, Globes reported.
According to figures from StoreNext, March 2020 saw a rise in around NIS 1.2b. spent on food compared to March 2019.
In addition, a total of NIS 5.4b. was spent in March 2020 on fast moving consumer goods like cleaning products. In the whole of 2019, Israelis spent NIS 47.3b. on fast moving consumer goods, meaning that March 2020 sales alone equated to one ninth of all 2019 sales, Globes reported.
The reason for the huge upsurge in food and fast moving consumer goods sales is twofold: The coronavirus pandemic and Passover.
As a result of the coronavirus, more Israelis remained at home for Passover than ever before, whereas they might usually have been either vacationing abroad, visiting family or staying at hotels. As a result of this and with restaurants around the country being closed due to restrictions, more Israelis had to stock up on food and supplies themselves.
Though Passover fell in April 2020 rather than March, people were stocking up on Passover purchases in the month before, Globes reported.
According to the data, the average Israelei spent over NIS 470 on food and beverage purchases in March.
This rise in purchasing is reflected in the sales data from multiple Israeli food companies.
Dairy giant Tnuva reported sales of NIS 584 million in March 2020, a 30% increase from March of the previous year.
Similarly, Strauss Israel saw a rise of 31% this March compared to the previous year, reporting sales of NIS 590m. The Central Bottling Company (Coca-Cola Israel) reported NIS 243m. this March, a 21% rise compared to March 2019.

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Food manufacturer and distributor Osem dwarfed the aforementioned companies in terms of sheer profit increase, however, reporting a rise of 41% this March compared to March 2019. This is likely due to the fact that Osem manufactures dry goods such as pasta, which many Israelis were stocking up on as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the StoreNext data, however, the most impressive rise overall was Neto, with the food conglomerate reporting a jump of 55% in March 2020 compared to March 2019.


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