Exports Hit Record High in 2018

Israel exported a record amount in 2018, the Economy Ministry’s Foreign Trade Office said in its final official report on the matter. The country exported a total of $110.6 billion in goods and services, excluding diamonds, in 2018, 7% more than in the previous year.

Exports of goods rose 3.2% in 2018 over the level of a year earlier, but for services, the export increase was 12% over the previous year. The country exported $50 billion in services in 2018, much of them in the tech sector, whose exports grew overall 17% over the year before. With that, much of the growth was concentrated in big companies; over 60% of all exports are made by some 50 Israeli companies. Twenty-two percent of all exports of goods are in the machine and electronics sectors (including computers and high-tech equipment), and 22% is in the area of chemicals and chemical-related products.

The numbers show that over half of all exports – 52% – were from facilities located in peripheral areas in the north and south, while 34% were from facilities in the center of the country – 11% of them in Tel Aviv. Only 3% of exports came from facilities in the Yerushalayim area. In terms of destination, an equal amount of 28% of exports went respectively to North America and Europe, while Asia got 25% of exports. The rest went to Africa and South America. The United States is the largest single national customer for Israeli exports, with $10.9 billion in exports going there.