Israel Export Institute: in 2005 Exports to EU will rise 12%

Shraga Brosh, Chairman of the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute predicted last week that Israeli exports to the EU will rise by 12% in 2005, following a 6.5% rise in industrial exports, excluding diamonds, in the first quarter of the year.
 
Brosh noted that Israeli exports to the EU totaled $2.3 billion in the first quarter. He also explained that exports to the EU have been affected by the EU expansion last year as well as by a 4.6% appreciation of the euro against the dollar, compared with the first quarter of 2004.
 
Brosh predicted that further strengthening of the euro and recovery by high-tech sectors will probably reduce Israel's trade deficit with the EU. However, he warned that greater competition within the EU caused by its expansion was liable to adversely affect Israeli exporters.
 
In a press release the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute said that Exports, especially of telecommunications equipment, to Lithuania, Sweden, Slovakia, and Portugal have grown. On the other hand Israeli imports from the EU, excluding diamonds, rose by 7% in the first quarter to $3.3 billion.