Table 2.

Changes in average retail-wholesale-price margins before and during Covid-19 in Israel

Commodity	Changes in average margins during the Covid-19 period		Contribution of retail price change		Contribution of wholesale price change		Changes in average margins during the 2019 benchmark period
Tomatoes	+505	%	+209	%	−296	%	−217%
Avocados	+62	%	+7	%	−55	%	+49%
Apples	+28	%	+23	%	−5	%	−17%
Cucumbers	+10	%	+98	%	+88	%	−120%

Source: Authors’ calculations based on Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (2020)

Notes: These commodities where chosen as they play a significant role in the average Israeli diet and thus are subject to similarly high and continuous food demand and, therefore, food and nutrition security in the country. The margins reported in the second column refer to the difference between the retail and wholesale price measured in New Israeli Shekels (NIS)/kg. The third and fourth columns split the change reported in the second column into the contributions of the retail price p^r as well as the wholesale price p^w, respectively, according to:

All weekly observations until end of week 14 of 2020 have been considered. The Covid-19 period (denoted as “c” in the preceding formula) is defined by the start of the considerable physical distancing restrictions at the national level in Israel, such as the closing of the entire education system, at the beginning of week 11 of 2020. The benchmark margins in the pre-Covid-19 period (denoted as “-c” in the preceding formula) are the averages of the first ten weeks of 2020 before the start of the restrictions. The 2019 benchmark period in the fifth column refers to the changes in average margins during the same week numbers in 2019 corresponding to the Covid-19 period and the pre-Covid-19 period in 2020. Any other potential price determinants on the demand as well as on the supply side such as demand shifts, seasonality effects, adverse weather conditions, or pests/locust invasions did not change between these two periods to the best of our knowledge. The only determinant which changed between these two periods were the considerable physical distancing restrictions at the national level. Therefore, the observed change in the margins can be plausibly attributed to Covid-19.