News - Middle East: The Hebrew economic newspaper "Globes" revealed on Monday a sharp drop in the profits of one of Israel's largest food companies, due to the repercussions of the war on Gaza and the Yemeni naval blockade, which led to a rise in shipping costs and raw materials imported by the company that deals with a range of food products, including coffee and dairy.

The company resorted to raising prices to improve its revenue rate. According to the report published by the newspaper, the "giant food company (Strauss) recorded a sharp 78% drop in net accounting profit during the first quarter of the current year."

The report stated that "due to the war that erupted in October and the Houthi threat in the Red Sea", according to the company's expression, "the prices of raw materials increased during the first quarter of this year compared to last year, where the prices of Arabica coffee beans increased by 9% and Robusta coffee beans by 59%, while the price of sugar increased by 11%, and the price of cocoa by 143%".

The report explained that "in the summary of the first quarter, the total profit margin in the just-passed first quarter decreased, and operating expenses increased by 7% and reached 482 million shekels; and due to recording extraordinary expenses, net profit decreased by 78%".

The report mentioned that the company had imposed several increases in the prices of its products since the beginning of the current year, pointing out that "the price of the olive oil produced by the company increased by 25%, the price of chocolate and cocoa jumped by 10%, and coffee became about 12% more expensive, and later, at the beginning of this month, Strauss announced an increase in the prices of some dairy products".

The costs of imported raw materials have increased by rates reaching 143% for some products. The report quoted the company as saying: These increases came "to improve the overall administrative profit margin."

According to the report, "Strauss Company's operating profits have eroded by 2.4%." It added that "Strauss Company's share lost about 16.8% of its value last year and has declined by 6.2% since the beginning of 2024."

The report referred to other repercussions that affected the company's profits, including the decline of the "Shekel" currency against the dollar, and the Turkish boycott.

During the current May, several Hebrew reports revealed a decline in the profits of many large "Israeli" companies as a result of the maritime blockade imposed by the Yemeni Armed Forces on the arrival of ships to the occupied Palestinian ports, where the profits of the "Taburah" company (a giant company in the transport sector) decreased by 50% due to the disruption of the occupied Umm Al-Rashrash port, which the company was using to transport car shipments to various parts of the occupied territories.

In parallel, several major Zionist food companies announced this month an increase in the prices of their products by varying rates reaching 20%, in addition to previous increases they had imposed in recent months; due to the rise in shipping costs and the import of raw materials, as well as other repercussions of the war.

Last week, the Zionist shipping company "Zim" announced an increase of more than 37% in the cost of transporting containers from the East to the ports of occupied Palestine; a matter that is expected to lead to new increases in the prices of goods and products in the "Israeli" markets in the coming period.