The demand for plastics products in Israel is booming. For the current year, in which growth in gross domestic product of 4% is expected, sales of plastics in industrial applications are expected to grow by 7%, according to the German Office for Foreign Trade (bfai, Cologne / Germany; www.bfai.de). The construction and consumer goods industries are forecast to have a significant impact on sales.

Germany remains an important trading partner for Israel. In 2005 10% of Israeli imports originated in Germany. At the same time, Germany was the destination for around 9% of Israel´s exports, the bfai says.

From 2002 to 2005, the volume of sales in the plastics and rubber industry grew by 16% to USD 3.35 bn (EUR 2.55 bn). Over the same period, exports increased by 46% to USD 1.7 bn, according to the Israeli Association of Plastics and Rubber Manufacturers (Tel Aviv / Israel; www.industry.org.il). Half of Israel´s exports went to EU countries, a further 33% to North America and the remaining 15% to other regions.

Products for the household, packaging and the building sector accounted for 80% of sales revenues. In 2005, 920,000 t of raw materials were processed. Polyolefins accounted for almost 70%, a further 11% was S-PVC, with technical thermoplastics accounting for the remainder.

Israel´s imports of plastics products increased by around 35% in the ten years to 2005, reaching USD 278m. The German share of these imports was around 13% during the 1990s, but this has fallen in recent years due to greater competition from newly industrialised countries, particularly for lower priced products.

The US was the largest importer of plastics products to Israel in 2005, with 16.2% of the market, valued at USD 45m. China became the second largest importer with 13.2% (USD 35.3m), Turkey was third with just over 12% (USD 32.2m) and Germany held fourth place with 11.6% (USD 32m).

Import of plastics products Israel 1996 - 2005 (in m USD)
Year	Imports	German Share
	Value	Value	Percentage
1996	206	33.5	16.3
1997	208	29.3	14.1
1998	216	28.7	13.3
1999	223	25.4	11.4
2000	225	27.2	12.1
2001	220	25.4	11.5
2002	215	24.7	11.5
2003	230	28.2	12.3
2004	260	33.2	12.8
2005	278	32.2	11.6

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics

Import of plastic raw materials Israel 2000 - 2006 (in m USD)
Year	Imports	German Share
	Value	Value	Percentage
2000	567	83.4	14.7
2001	529	70.3	13.3
2002	503	61.9	12.3
2003	613	65.4	10.7
2004	860	90.9	10.6
2005	961	88.2	9.2
2006	1,100	-	-

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics



While Israel´s domestic raw material production increased by around 42% between 2000 and 2006, the report says that high quality German raw materials will remain in demand. However, lower priced competition and the strength of the euro will have a negative effect on imports from Germany, which currently supplies 16.8% of Israel´s plastics raw materials.

The Israeli Association of Plastics and Rubber Manufacturers says that the plastics industry is the fastest growing in the country with production 37.4% higher in 2005 than in 2000. In 2005 the output per employee was only by 20.4% higher than five years earlier.

German was the leading importer of plastics processing machinery to Israel in 2005, with 26.4% market share valued at USD 15.6m. Injection moulding machines with a value of USD 3.8 m, around 18% of the market, were imported from Germany. Furthermore, blow moulding machines and extruders worth USD 1.7m and USD 1.4m respectively were imported from Germany in 2005. Italy is responsible for around 20% of plastics processing machinery imports to Israel. Austria and Japan account for about 8% each.

Import of plastics processing machines Israel 2000 - 2005 (in m USD)
Year	Imports	German Share
	Value	Value	Percentage
2000	67	19.7	29.4
2001	55	13.3	24.2
2002	36	8.9	24.7
2003	46	16.4	35.7
2004	65	16.1	24.8
2005	59	15.6	26.4

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics