Israel’s trade deficit widened sharply to a record USD 5.8 billion in August 2026, up from USD 3.4 billion in August 2025, as import growth significantly outpaced exports. Total imports jumped 40.9% year-on-year to USD 11.1 billion, driven by strong increases in purchases of fuels (+172.6%), investment goods (+68.1%), consumer goods (+29.4%), and raw materials (+24.1%).
Exports also rose, but at a slower pace, increasing 19.3% to USD 5.3 billion. The main driver was higher shipments of manufactured, mining, and quarrying products excluding diamonds (+23.9%), which more than offset steep declines in wholesale diamond exports (-77.7%) and lower exports from agriculture, forestry, and fishing (-9.5%).
Over the January–August period, the trade deficit widened by 32.6%, reaching USD 34.1 billion compared with USD 25.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.
