Just hours before 20,000 pounds of shmurah matzah baked in Odesa, Ukraine, were to be loaded onto ships and brought to Jews in the United States, Russia commenced its war against its neighboring country.
In total, some 180,000 pounds of matzah were baked in Ukraine and shipped out to America, which accounts for 15% to 20% of the number of shmurah matzos consumed in the United States. However, the final 20,000 pounds are unable to get out of the Ukrainian port.
“I think the U.S. market will feel it,” Rabbi Meyer Stambler, head of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine told JTA. “I think we are probably going to have a deficit og shmurah matzah this year.”
The good news is that most matzah baked abroad has already made it to the United States, lessening the risk of a severe shortage. However, with worldwide logistics snarled and gas prices rising, the end-user cost of matzah is shooting up as well, with some stores selling a pound of matzos for an eye-popping $85 a pound.
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10 Responses
Nonsense. That’s like Biden saying, the price of gas is surging in the US because of Putin and Russia. Most of the normal heimishe olam purchases name brand matzah’s baked right here in the US. Who in the world buys Ukrainian matzah and honestly enjoys it? There is a reason you can find these Ukrainian matzah’s for 15 bucks a pound. You get what you pay for. They taste like old cardboard. Most of the Ukrainian matzah’s are purchased by the cheap Pesach programs and the free Pesach meals for the non religious Russians and the like. I’ve yet to hear a legitimate reason why the local heimishe (even our favorite, baked in Williamsburg) matzah bakeries have suddenly raised their prices (more than Choshen Mishpat allows) when the baking started Chanukah time, long before this inflation started.
The good news is that most matzah baked abroad has already made it to the United States Just like 2 years ago, just about all פסח products had already been baked & manufactured before Corona/Chinese Virus kicked in, in ernest.
Easy answer to your question. Money. The frum don’t discriminate either.
fear·mon·ger·ing
/ˈfirˌməNGəriNG/
noun
the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue.
notgettinginvolved, well you shouldn’t. I bought Ukrainian matzot. they are like Hareidim matzot – about 10-11 per pound versus about 7 for most other matzot. this year i paid 34.50 versus under 30 last year. Hareidim are over 60/pound this year. A bargain and delicious
Since “Noach’s Time ” the wheat is harvested from the “Plains ” , including all the pictures of the Yidden being there during the harvest . The baking starts Chanukah time !!! Perhaps the shortage of wheat is due to the “Bird Flu ” !!!!
Not getting involved, to say a specific matzah bakery tastes like cardboard seems to be straight up Lashon hora. These people also need parnasa, and degrading their quality of matzah hurts them.
Your concern should include food for the entire world. Ukraine produces a lot of the wheat for alot of the world. Russia produces alot of fertilizer we use to increase crop production yields. With the increasing fuel charges with decreasing food production, I shudder to think of the consequenes. We needed a “YOSEF” to prepare for the bad years, but got a “joe” instead. Now we need a “Moshe” to bring us to geula.
which brand is it? I feel like we should buy it first to support the Ukrainian yiddin.
Not getting in us right, Ukrainian shmurah matzoh tastes like old cardboard. I much prefer the Brooklyn or Israeli shmurah matzoh, which tastes like new cardboard. The really good news is that you can fulfill the matzoh mitzva by eating machine-made matzoh that was perfected more than 100 years ago and tastes good.