Browse Data and Analysis

On February 2, 2025, the Government of Israel published the “Public Health Protection (Food) (Food that is an Alcoholic Food), 2025 Regulation.” Under this regulation, the Ministry of Economy’s authority over alcoholic beverages was transferred to the Ministry of Health.

In 2024, Israel's technologically advanced, market-oriented economy achieved an annual GDP of $541.8 billion, with a modest growth of 0.9 percent. The food retail industry saw significant activity, with sales reaching $21 billion in 2024 and a projected growth of 5 percent in 2025.

In 2024, Portugal imported $413 million worth of agricultural, fish, and forestry products from the United States, up 40 percent compared to the previous year.

With over 2,500 facilities, the Israeli food processing sector is an important player in the domestic economy. In 2022, Israeli food processors' annual revenue stood at $23.19 billion.

In 2023, Portuguese imports of agriculture, fish and forest products from the United States reached $294 million, two percent higher than previous year.

Israel is a net importer of all major categories of food products. The Israeli food retail sector was estimated to be $20.7 billion in 2023, and during the same year, Israel imported around $4.96 million of consumer-oriented products.

In 2023, Portugal imported $293 million worth of agricultural, fish, and forestry products from the United States. Outside the European Union Member States, the United States was the third main origin of Portuguese agricultural and related imports.

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.

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.

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.

U.S. exporters can find ample opportunities in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain is the third-largest European Union (EU) destination for U.S. agricultural products, with Portugal ranking 11th. In 2021, the United States exported $1.6 billion of agricultural products to Spain, or 15 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports to the EU. The United States held a 4 percent market share of Spain’s agricultural imports and 2 percent market share in Portugal, behind other EU member states as a group and Brazil.