2006 was the best year in a decade for Israel’s chemical and pharmaceutical sector

Sales were up 12.6% to $17.4 billion a quarter of total industrial sales. Chemical and pharmaceutical exports rose 15.7% to $8.8 billion, 29% of total industrial exports
 
Manufacturers Association Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Environmental Society chairman Joseph Barnea said last week that 2006 was the best year in a decade for Israel’s chemical and pharmaceutical sector:
 
Sales were up 12.6% to $17.4 billion a quarter of total industrial sales. Chemical and pharmaceutical exports rose 15.7% to $8.8 billion, 29% of total industrial exports, excluding diamonds. Domestic sales in 2006 rose 10% to $8.6 billion.
 
Barnea forecast that the sector, which employs 28,700 workers, will record total sales in 2007 of $19.5 billion, up 12% from 2006. He also predicts that chemical and pharmaceutical exports will grow by 15% to $10 billion, “unless something unexpected happens.”
 
In 2006, Israeli chemical and drug companies made acquisitions abroad worth $1.5 billion, bringing the total in the past 12 years to $12.5 billion.