Israel's Pharma Trade Balance Improves

In 1993, Israel's drug exports (including pharmaceutical chemicals) and imports (finished products only) were almost identical at around $220 million each. But in 1994, exports rose more than 20% to $267 million while imports increased by 14.5% to $250 million.

Adding in imports of raw materials, the total imports of pharmaceuticals reached $307 million in 1994. However, the export figures do not include biotechnology products which, with diagnostics, rose by a modest 5% to reach $70 million during 1994. Another factor to bear in mind in evaluating the trade balance is that most imports come from hard European currency markets.