Browse Data and Analysis

Israel amended its Public Health Protection Act (Food) to reduce regulatory burdens on food importation.

Israel is a net importer of all major categories of food products. The United States is the top leading supplier of imported consumer-oriented agricultural products to Israel with a total of $444 million in 2022. The Israel food retail sector was estimated at around $13 billion in 2022.

Uzbekistan’s cotton production in marketing year (MY) 2023/24 is forecast unchanged from the previous year at 675,000 metric tons (MT) (3.10 million bales).

With over 1,800 facilities, the Israeli food processing sector is an important player in the domestic economy. In 2021, Israeli food processors' annual revenue stood at $21.23 billion while the beverage and tobacco industry's annual revenue was $2.67 billion.

FAS Tel Aviv (Post) forecasts Israel’s wheat imports to reach 1.70 million metric tons (MMT) in marketing year (MY) 2023/24, a 2.8 percent decrease from Post’s MY 2022/23 figure.

Israel's reform to decentralize the control on toiletries and food will impact the import of processed food products.

Israel's chief rabbi affirms cultivated steak is kosher, which means it is permitted for consumption by Jews under religious law. This ruling opens the door for companies producing cultivated meat directly from laboratory grown cells to receive a kosher certification.

Israel is an advanced, market-oriented economy. However, its limited land and water resources preclude agricultural self-sufficiency, which affects local production costs and consumer prices.

Israel’s planted citrus area in marketing year (MY) 2022/23 is forecast to be 16,200 hectares (ha) with no change from the area planted in MY 2021/22. The productive area is estimated at 15,850 ha and official figures have yet to be published by the Citrus Board this year regarding the aera planted.

The marketing year (MY) 2022/23 total cotton production area for Uzbekistan is forecast as 980,000 hectares (ha) and the cotton production is estimated as 675,000 metric tons (MT) (3.10 million bales). Post forecasts MY 2022/23 consumption of cotton to be about 653,000 MT (3 million bales) for MY 2022/23.

As of September 2022, Israel does not have a policy restricting the use of imported genetically engineered (GE) commodities or derivative products. There are no changes in Israel’s policy towards plant, animal biotechnology, and microbial biotechnology compared to 2021.

The impact of the COVID-19 on the Israeli hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) sector was nothing short of devastating. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, accommodation and foodservice activities declined by forty percent in 2020. The sector started to recover during 2021, and it is expected to recover, with a return to pre-COVID-19 sales by 2023.