Record Year for Israeli Exports

The movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel suffered several devastating setbacks this week, starting with the prestigious Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in America naming the Jewish State as a global “innovation champion” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Also this week, major Israeli companies announced mega-deals with counterparts in Brazil, the US, UK and other countries as the government announced that 2018 broke all records for Israeli exports.

On Wednesday, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Brazilian company Santos Lab announced the launch of a collaborative effort to develop and deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and advanced analytics for precision agricultural applications.

“This system will allow farmers to take conscious decisions on how to better manage their crops in the most efficient manner, introducing precision agriculture on a large industrial scale throughout Brazilian fields,” said Santos Lab CEO Gabriel Klabin. “The use of this technology can positively impact the whole cycle of food production and consumption, even enabling people to eat at a lower cost, and this is just the beginning.”

Elsewhere, ADAMA, the world’s leading generic crop protection company, opened its state-of-the-art global research and development center on Tuesday in the southern industrial zone of Ne’ot Hovav. The center will initially employ over 100 scientists and technicians, with plans to rapidly expand.

“This is a unique platform that will enable a strong connection between academic research and industry,” said Dr. Elad Shabtai, ADAMA’s VP Innovation, Development, Research and Regulatory Affairs. “It will attract academics and researchers, professors and students from Israel and around the world, who will produce a range of partnerships that will enable the utilization of scientific knowledge in the company’s advanced products.”

Earlier this week, on Monday, Intel’s Mobileye announced a new partnership with Great Britain’s national mapping agency Ordnance Survey to map and track road conditions in the UK in real time.

“Using maps to improve operations between businesses and cities will help bring us closer to the realization of smart cities and safer roads,” Prof. Amnon Shashua, president and CEO of Mobileye, said.

Finally, the Foreign Trade Administration (FTA) at the Ministry of Economy and Industry published initial forecasts on Tuesday including an estimate that Israel exported over $110 billion worth of goods and services in 2018, around 7% more than in 2017. 

“During a year in which the world trade market was shaken up, I am particularly pleased to see that Israeli exports have continued to grow as they have in recent years and, as reflected in the data, we expect another record year for Israeli exports,” said Ohad Cohen, head of the FTA.