High-Tech, Pharmaceutical Exports Jump

After dropping by 20 percent over the same period the previous year during the February-April period, high-tech exports rebounded, rising 13 percent over the previous year’s numbers for the period during May and July, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced. High-tech constitutes 48 percent of Israeli industrial exports, not including diamonds.

Even more impressive was the increase in pharmaceutical exports during that period – with an increase of 136.8 percent over the previous year’s period.

With that, exports of computer hardware fell 40 percent. Most of that fall was due to sinking exports by Intel Israel, which dominates the field. Manufactured product exports, including exports of mined products (excepting diamonds) increased 7.7 percent during the period, after falling 10.8 percent during the February-April period over the numbers during that period a year earlier.

On the other side of the equation, imports of raw materials during May-July were 15 percent higher than during that period in 2015. During February-April, they were up just 7.1 percent. During the latest reporting period, iron and steel imports rose 53.2 percent over the previous year’s numbers, while agriculture machinery and technology imports were up 35.1 percent. Imports of unprocessed food products were down 10.4 percent, the CBS said.