Industrial exports fall sharply

Domestic consumer demand also continued to drop in the fourth quarter.

The Central Bureau of Statistics today reported that exports fell by 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2008, an annualized drop of 20.3%, after falling by an annualized 15% in the third quarter. Exports by all industrial segments fell, except for low technology, which increased by 4%.

Exports by mixed-low technology industries (mining and quarrying, minerals, rubber and plastics, and basic metals and metal products) plummeted 54% in the fourth quarter. High-tech exports, a central driver of the Israeli economy, fell by 12%, and mixed high-tech exports (chemicals, machinery, electrical equipment, and transport equipment) fell by 14.3%.

Exports by all three industrial segments also fell in the third quarter, and it is now possible to talk about a clear sharp slowdown, if not an outright recession displayed in the Central Bureau of Statistics figures.

Trade and services proceeds also fell in the fourth quarter. Retail trade, an indicator of domestic consumption, fell by 1.2% in October-November 2008, after falling 4% in August-September. Sales at retail chains (which account for a third of all retail trade) fell by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, the first decline since the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

The slowdown is also affecting imports. Imports of raw materials (excluding diamonds and fuel) fell 17.7% in the fourth quarter, after falling 5% in the preceding quarter.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 28, 2009

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009

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