Browse Data and Analysis

Israel is highly dependent on agricultural and food imports. Due to its limited arable land and water resources, the country’s dependence will only increase.

FAS Tel Aviv (Post) forecasts Israel’s wheat imports to reach 1.74 million metric tons (MMT) in market year (MY) 2022/23, a 2 percent increase from Post’s MY 2021/22 figure. In MY 2021/22, U.S. wheat accounted for 8.2 percent of the market, up 55 percent from the previous year.

With over 1,800 facilities, the Israeli food processing sector is an important player in the domestic economy. In 2020, Israeli food processors' annual revenue stood at $19.26 billion while the beverage and tobacco industry's annual revenue was $2.42 billion.

Israel adopts EU regulations, stating the requirements in Europe in terms of chemical and biological contaminants (excluding listeria and salmonella) and pesticide residues, with certain exceptions.

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

As of October 2021, 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...

Israel passes amendments to the Public Health Protection Act (Food) to ease and reduce the regulatory burden on food importation. Amongst the amendments is an additional importation track called the “European Track”.

The Israeli government has come to understand of the threats of climate change and the need to reduce its contribution to global warming. The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOAG) has the mandate to track the impact of...