Forecast: all-time record in Israeli exports in 2021 - may amount to at least $ 135 billion

An up-to-date forecast published by the Ministry of Economy and Industry predicts an all-time record in Israeli exports in 2021, and may amount to at least $ 135 billion - an increase of 18.5% compared to the volume of exports from Israel in 2020.
Last year, exports from Israel totaled $ 114 billion, a decrease of 3% compared to the volume of exports from it in 2019. The forecast is based on Israel's export data for the first three quarters of the year. The Ministry of Economy's Foreign Trade Administration said today that the growing trend in exports, which has been evident since the beginning of the year, has been strengthening in recent months, in a manner approaching the volume of exports higher than $ 135 billion.
In 2021, the volume of exports of services from Israel exceeded the volume of exports of goods for the first time: 51% of all Israeli exports are of services, compared with 49% of goods. The Ministry of Economy said that the two significant trends that led to the historic change in the export balance are a significant increase in the volume of activity of the high-tech industry, including research and development and software services including fintech and cyber, which jumped by up to 25% and jumped by 138%.
Much of the increase in this activity is attributed to the shipping company Zim, which rode the corona waves and took advantage of demand resulting from the difficulties in the world supply chains. Even before 2021 ended, ZIM had already recorded a huge profit, of 4.5 billion dollars. Along with these, exports from the sale of companies in exits also recorded a jump of almost 260% in the past year, which eventually led to overall growth in the export of services.
The Ministry of Economy is also pointing to a recovery trend in the export of goods sector after years of stagnation. In 2021, exports of goods recorded an increase of 15%, including exports from the diamond industry, which this year recorded an increase of 65%. After deducting diamond exports, exports of goods grew by 13% compared to 2020.
Ohad Cohen, director of the Foreign Trade Division at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, estimated in a conversation with Calcalist that in the coming years exports of services from Israel will continue to increase compared to exports of goods, following a trend in recent years: "The volume of exports is clear. This growth comes despite the fact that the tourism sector has not returned to full activity over the past year and even though the corona continues to challenge the world markets."
In the distribution of exports of goods from Israel to the world, there is no significant change compared to previous years: 39% of exports are to continental Europe, 33% to America, 25% to Asia, 2% to Africa and another 1% of Israeli exports to Oceania.