CBS - Terms of trade index worsen in Q1

According to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics ( CBS ), at the beginning of last week, Israel's terms of trade index worsened 0.8% during the first quarter of 2005.
 
The decline, according to the CBS, follows 2004's final quarter trend, when trade conditions was down 3.8%. Industrial export prices were 0.1% off for the first quarter.
 
The CBS noted emphasized that high-tech exports, which account for 46% of this category, dropped 3.4% in price. In general, industrial exports declined 3.2% during the quarter, while imports fell 0.8%. Imports of raw materials, which comprise 40% of the total and had risen 8.5% in the previous quarter, fell 3.6% this one.
 
The CBS noted that raw material prices rose 2.2% during the first quarter of 2005. Consumer goods also rose but at a more modest rate of 0.9% after having climbed 2.1% in the previous quarter.
 
Household goods imports rose 2%, while durable goods imports slipped 0.2%. Diamond import prices shot up 5.5%, following a 3.6% rise the previous quarter.
 
The CBS defines terms of trade index as the relationship between the change in export prices to the change in import prices.