The Central Bureau of Statistics ( CBS ) reported last Wednesday that exports to the US surged by an annualized 29.3% in the past three months. The increase according to the CBS extends a 23.4% rise in US-bound exports between May and July of 2004.
According to CBS, total exports reached $19.6 billion in the first 10 months of this year and imports were up to NIS 26.2b. In the past three months imports have risen 11.8%, after a larger 15.8% expansion in May through July.
October's figures point to stability in exports to the 25-nation European Union, sales of Israeli products to the EU bloc fell 5.8% between July and September. The EU is still Israel's largest trading partner, accounting for 33% of all exports.
The CBS noted that Israel's various industries, especially hi-tech companies, are continually expanding their sales to the US, at the expense of other markets. Overall, exports (excluding diamonds) fell in the past three months by 3.7%. The US accounts for 28% of Israel's export market. Imports from the US, constituting 17% of all foreign-made products sold locally, rose by only 3%.
Asia, according to the CBS is an increasingly popular destination for Israeli industrial products and technology. Asia currently accounts for 16% of Israel's exports, rising 5.3% in the past three months, following a 7% increase between May and July. Imports from Asia soared 21.4% in the past three months, less than half its 48.2% increase in May through July. Exports to the rest of the world, however, fell 7%, added to a 5.8% fall at the beginning of the second half of this year.
