Israel's exports fell 7% in the second quarter of 2014 to $13.6 billion, the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute reports. The falls were across the board in all areas.
The Israel Export Institute spoke about "a downturn in trends in almost every export sector," in the second quarter. Diamond exports fell 16% to $2.1 billion, agricultural exports fell 9% to $315 million and industrial exports fell 4% to $11.2 billion.
The fall in exports in the second quarter stemmed, among other things, from a substantial fall in the exports of chemicals and electronic components, while pharmaceuticals exports slightly helped to offset the falls. Exports of chemicals fell 13% to $2.8 billion and exports of electronic components fell 4.5% to $1.2 billion. Exports of pharmaceuticals rose 10% to $1.6 billion.
A geographical analysis of exports found "a worrying picture of the size of exports to the US," the Israel Export Institute said. In the past five quarters there has been a fall in sales to the US market. In the second quarter of 2014 exports to the US fell 2% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2013 to $2.5 billion (about 22% of all exports). This follows a more significant 11% fall in exports to the US in the first quarter, 7% in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 24% in the third quarter of 2013.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 30, 2014
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