Israel's hi-tech exports rise 18 pct in 2022: report

Israel's hi-tech exports, excluding services, rose by about 18 percent in 2022, said an annual foreign trade report released by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

Israel's exports of hi-tech goods amounted to 23.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, compared to 19.98 billion dollars in 2021, the figures showed.

The main hi-tech exports were computers, electronic products and optical products, which increased by 11 percent year on year to 16.7 billion dollars, as well as pharmaceutical products, which jumped by 81 percent year on year.

The latest increase in the hi-tech exports is a continuation of recent years' trend, with more technology companies growing in the software sector, Ohad Cohen, director of the Foreign Trade Administration at the Israeli Economy Ministry, told Xinhua.

"There is a global demand for electronic components, mainly because of the supply difficulties of these products," he noted, adding the global price increases also contributed to the rise in total exports.

Cohen estimated that the growth trend will continue in 2023 despite global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and a shortage of hi-tech workers in Israel.

"From past experience, severe crises did not much affect the Israeli hi-tech, and its exports in particular," he explained.

The report also showed that Israel's total goods exports rose 18 percent year on year to 66.5 billion dollars in 2022, while Israeli imports rose by 16.9 percent to 106.3 billion dollars.