Tira : industry suffers heavy damage due to Kassam rocket attacks

Mr. Oded Tira, president of the Israeli manufacturing association, said, during a visit to the city of Shderot, that Kassam rocket attacks caused heavy financial damages to industry in the region.
 
Some 40 firms operate in the region mainly in the food, metal, plastic, paper & high-tech, employing over 5,000 people.
 
Mr. Tira estimated the direct and indirect damages to be between NIS 8 – 10 millions.
 
The outstanding heavy damage was due to:
- Foreign buyers not willing to arrive to the area.
- Foreign and local maintenance people are afraid to visit the industrial areas.
- Many workers are absent due to family problems created by the situation.
- Foreign orders are far less frequent compared to last year's
- Companies are experiencing drastic increase in overheads.
- Due to late deliveries to foreign buyers, companies have to compensate buyers.
- Local companies increase their stock levels.
 
The situation, according to Tira, is deteriorating rapidly and the government has to step in, in order to save the industrial infrastructure & the employment in and around the conflict area.
 
Tira has called upon the government not only to provide direct compensation to industry but also to adopt a preferential treatment policy in which companies from the conflict zone will be preferred in tenders financed by the ministry of defense.
 
The government should officially recognize the Shderot area as a conflict zone and provide industry and trade with the necessary grants in order to help through the difficult period.