Barkat opens WhatsApp group for retail heads to coordinate price freeze

Economy Minister Nir Barkat opened a WhatsApp group with around 20 of Israel’s major retailers, asking them to lobby the head of Israel’s Competition Authority to allow them to coordinate prices in order to freeze price increases, Israeli media reported Wednesday evening.

The group was closed for responses, and only Barkat, the admin, was able to send messages in the group, in order to prevent illegal collusion, according to media reports.

The group included the heads of Israel’s largest retailers, such as Carrefour Israel, Yochananof, Shufersal, and more, according to Calcalist. This follows the Competition Authority’s opinion that a meeting to coordinate prices is not permissible and could hurt competition in the market.

Barkat combats price increases 

Barkat has been fighting an increase in prices for months, including publishing a “black list” of companies that have raised prices during the war.

“Don’t buy from companies on the black list – don’t buy from companies that raise prices during the war,” Barkat tweeted in February, along with a list of companies that had raised prices and a list of companies that had frozen prices during the war.

Barkat also proposed a new law that would mandate affixing black stickers to products that have had their prices raised during wartime without government agreement, earlier in March. This was because his blacklist was not having the desired effect, and he wanted to help consumers make informed choices, according to Barkat.

"The new law will require putting black stickers on products whose prices rose during wartime. The companies on the blacklist hurt the Israeli public at a difficult time of war when the entire nation acts in solidarity and only these companies are detached," Barkat said in a press release.

Yuval Barnea contributed to this report.