Tnuva, or Tenuvah, (, ''
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
'' or ''produce'') is an Israeli food creation and marketing company. The company holds in Israel a significant market share in the field of drinking
milk production,
dairy product
Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...
s and its marketing. It was for its first seventy years an Israeli food processing cooperative (co-op) owned by the
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
im (collective farms) and
moshav
A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...
im (agricultural communities), and historically specializing in
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
and dairy products; it was subsequently sold by its members as a
limited company
In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...
and, since 2014, has been controlled by a Chinese
state company
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...
,
Bright Food
Bright Food (officially Bright Food (Group) Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese multinational food and beverage manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai. It is the second-largest Chinese food manufacturing company measured by 2011 revenues. The compa ...
. Tnuva is the largest food manufacturer in Israel; its sales account for 70% of the country's dairy market as well as sales of meat, eggs and packaged food.
History

Tnuva Central Cooperative for the Marketing of Agricultural Produce in Israel Ltd. was created in 1926, following a decision by
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
movement leaders to make cooperatives to distribute and export several types of food products. Tnuva was created as a result, but at first only delivered regular milk for drinking. It expanded to cover other dairy products in the 1930s.
Tnuva used the complex that would later become the
Dan Center Tower
The Dan Center Tower () also known as the BBC Central Tower is an office skyscraper in Bnei Brak, Israel. Built between 1995 and 2023, the tower stands at tall with 44 floors and is the current 8th tallest building in Israel.
History
The build ...
as a vegetable warehouse in the nineties.
Tnuva was labelled by the
Israel Antitrust Authority as a monopoly, a status that essentially places the company under government regulation, limiting the way it can change the price of its products in order to protect the consumer and smaller competitors.
An advertising campaign for Tnuva milk, showing cosmonaut
Vasily Tsibliyev
Vasily Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev (); born on February 20, 1954) is a retired Russian cosmonaut and former head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Life
He was selected as a cosmonaut on March 26, 1987. Tsibliyev flew as Commander on Soy ...
(Russia) drinking milk aboard the
Mir
''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...
space station, was broadcast on 22 August 1997. This occasion also marked the first time that milk in liquid form had been sent into space.
In 2006, it was reported that the
Markstone Capital Partners Fund was interested in purchasing Tnuva and its assets for about $750 million. The general manager, Arik Reichman, valued the company at between $800 million to $1 billion. Another obstacle to selling the company or even a large minority share, was the need to convert the cooperative to a company, which would require the approval of a majority of the members. However the same year the Tnuva cooperative members made the decision in principle to agree to the transformation of the cooperative into a limited company and sell it to private investors.
On 20 November 2006,
Apax Partners
Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of March 2024, the firm had raised and adv ...
Worldwide LLP, a London-based
buyout firm, together with the Israeli investor
Meir Shamir
Meir Shamir () is an Israeli businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chief executive officer and main shareholder of Mivtach Shamir Holdings Ltd., an Israeli holding company. Beyond the realm of business, Shamir has also bee ...
(
Mivtach Shamir Holdings), won a tender to buy control of Tnuva. The bid valued the privately held food and dairy group at $1.025 billion, larger than Strauss-Elite Ltd. and Osem Investments Ltd., the two largest publicly held Israeli food companies. The transaction was finally completed in January 2008, following the transformation of the former cooperative into a limited company.
In June 2011, Israeli consumer action groups called for a customer ban on Tnuva products, due to them using their monopoly on the market to raise prices.
In 2012 Tnuva's
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n branch went into bankruptcy.
On 21 May 2014, a controlling interest in Tnuva was bought by the Chinese food conglomerate
Bright Foods. The company paid $2.5 billion for a 56% holding, purchasing the shares from Apax and other investors.
In August 2017, it has been reported that the kibbutzim buyers organizations have begun to consider selling their 26% stake in Tnuva Food Industries Ltd.
In June 2021, a bribery case was published, in which Tnuva received facilitation from labeling its products as part of the
Ministry of Health's reform, in exchange for a donation to associations close to Moti Babchik, the personal assistant of then-Health Minister
Yaakov Litzman
Yaakov Noach Litzman (; born 2 September 1948) is an American-born Israeli politician and former government minister. A follower of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, he heads Agudat Yisrael, part of the United Torah Judaism alliance, in the Knesset. He ...
.
Cottage cheese protest
In September 2011, a
class action
A class action is a form of lawsuit.
Class Action may also refer to:
* ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
* Class Action (band), a garage house band
* "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...
was started alleging that "Tnuva abused its position to raise cottage cheese prices by more than 40% between 2006 and 2011."
Prof. Avia Spivak and Dr. Meir Amir claimed that between 2009 and 2010, the price of cottage cheese increased 12% while its production cost decreased 4% leaving no doubt that Tnuva took advantage of its monopoly and repeatedly raised prices.
[ The academics claimed this "was unreasonable, not to mention immoral, and could be carried out only by a monopoly."][ Witnesses for the company claimed the price changes were caused by increased retailer profit margins, an issue Spivak and Amir claimed could be resolved by publishing wholesale figures.][
]
See also
* Zvi Galor
* Our Car Is Big and Green
References
External links
Tnuva International website
Tnuva Israel website
Tnuva Romanian website
{{Authority control
1926 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Apax Partners companies
Dairy products companies of Israel
Food and drink companies of Israel
Food and drink companies established in 1926
Israeli brands
Jewish businesses established in Mandatory Palestine