Amid the controversy surrounding the high price of cottage cheese and other dairy products, a Ministry of Finance official has told "Globes" that the idea of breaking up Tnuva Food Industries Ltd. has been considered.
The Ministry of Finance source said, "The option has been examined, and it is good that there is such an idea about. It would be the most aggressive step and therefore we are not really there. To go into a private company and break it up would be a most extreme measure."
He added that such a step must be viewed from three angles: whether it is at all possible, would it be effective and would the price paid be worth it.
Several members of the Antitrust Authority also since on the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor committee examining the dairy market. The committee is headed by the ministry's director general Sharon Kedmi.
One of the senior figures at the Antitrust Authority told "Globes," that "Tnuva is already recognized as a monopoly and that breaking up such a company would be a most extreme step and difficult to implement even in a country like the US, which believes deeply in breaking up monopolies."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 13, 2011
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