Lulavim shake down

Jerusalem Post :

The local wholesale lulav market is in uproar because a single importer, who has managed to corner the local market, is set to charge five times the normal wholesale price for the palm fronds used on Succot.
Avi Belali, of Moshav Segula near Kiryat Gat, accomplished the impossible, said local wholesalers. While hundreds of lulav traders and their customers have failed in their attempts to put pressure on Egypt to loosen the ban on the export of lulavs by enlisting politicians, diplomats and Jewish interest groups both locally and in the US, Belali succeeded in importing 250,000 lulavs.
Instead of charging the accepted $1 per lulav to wholesalers, Belali has let it be known that he will charge at least $5.
Lulav traders said that after factoring in other costs, retailers need to ask for at least twice the wholesale price to break even. "I estimate that retailers will ask between $12 and $20," said one wholesaler...
In a halachic opinion published this week, Rabbi Ya'acov Ariel, chief rabbi of Ramat Gan, ruled that due to the shortage of lulavs, fronds from canary date trees, which are prevalent in Israel, could be used. "The dates are slightly smaller, but only experts can tell the difference," wrote Ariel, "in times of necessity we can rely on these trees."..
In the past, Egyptians put up with the lulav market because it was a source of income for many of its citizens. But the explosion of the lulav market to the point where El-Arish was exporting 1 million lulavs a year was too demanding for Egypt's palm trees, so last year, after Succot, the Egyptian Agricultural Ministry prohibited export of the branches.