Israel Trade Gap Widens in April

The trade deficit in Israel increased to $4.19 billion in April 2026, the largest trade gap on record for an April month, compared to a $3.58 billion shortfall a year earlier. Imports soared more than 18% to $9.185 billion, the highest in nine months, led by increases in purchases of raw materials (11.8%), consumer goods (16.3%) and fuels (72.9%). Exports surged 19.1% to $4.997 billion, reaching their highest level in three months, driven by a 24.9% increase in shipments from the manufacturing, mining, and quarrying sectors excluding diamonds, which together account for around 96% of total exports.

Israel posted a trade deficit of $3.11 billion in March of 2026, widening from the $2.8 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. It marked the widest gap in the month of March since 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a surge in energy imports even bigger than the current energy crunch due to the war in between Israel and Iran. Imports rose by 0.8% annually to $8.4 billion, amid higher purchases of fuels (24.6% to $799 million) and capital goods (14.1% to $1.5 billion). Exports fell by 4.3% annually to $5.3 billion, dented by a drop sales of in manufactured goods (-3.1% to $5.0 billion).

Israel’s trade deficit widened to USD 4.4 billion in February 2026, sharply above USD 2.5 billion in the same month last year. This marks the largest figure since May 2022, as imports climbed 24.7% year-on-year to USD 8.8 billion, driven by a surge in transport equipment, ships, and aircraft (+1,951.9%), investment goods, total, excluding ships and aircraft (+74.9%), consumer goods (+23.7%), and raw materials, excluding diamonds and fuel (+17.3%). Meanwhile, exports fell 3% to a five-month low of USD 4.5 billion. For the first two months of the year, the trade deficit widened to USD 7.4 billion compared to USD 5.3 billion in the corresponding period in the previous year.