Israel's Exports Near $160bn, Closing on the 2022 Record

Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry forecast total exports of close to $160 billion for 2025, a rise of about 3 per cent on 2024 and within reach of the country’s record year of 2022, when exports reached $165 billion. Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat announced the figures on the second day of the Foreign Trade Administration’s annual conference for Israel’s economic attachés.

“Upon taking office, I made increasing exports a top priority, and set a clear strategic goal: leading Israel to a trillion-dollar export within 20 years,” Barkat said. “Already during the war, we were preparing for the day after, and today we are beginning to see the results on the ground.” The ministry’s director general, Moti Hagay, said the forecast showed the economy’s capacity to recover and grow “even after a complex security period”. The figures were also reported by the Jerusalem Post on 16 December 2025.

Services now carry the whole number

The headline conceals a split. Services exports, which the ministry said account for more than half the total, were expected to grow 9 per cent to $101 billion, up from $92.7 billion in 2024, driven by high-technology services such as software, computing, and research and development. Goods exports, at roughly 48 per cent of the total, were projected to fall about 5 per cent to $57 billion from $60.3 billion, which the ministry attributed to weaker demand in the European Union, the United States and China.

The split matters because the two halves of the export economy answer to different pressures: physical shipments track the business cycles of a handful of large buyers, while software and research work is sold to customers who need neither a port nor a shipping lane. Exports to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania were rising moderately in the ministry’s account, with Asia expected to grow around 3.5 per cent.

How the year actually ended

The $160 billion figure was a forecast issued two weeks before the year closed. Ynetnews subsequently reported that Israeli exports finished 2025 at $165 billion, describing it as one of the strongest export years on record, with services passing $92 billion and making up 56 per cent of the total, and with goods and services both growing in the same year for the first time in four. In July 2026 the Jerusalem Post reported a further all-time high of $169 billion on Economy Ministry data, driven by high technology and software, and set against a previous record it put at $166 billion rather than $165 billion. The published totals for Israeli exports do not agree with one another: forecasts, first estimates and later revisions cover different periods and count different things, so none of these figures should be read as a like-for-like correction of another.

The machinery behind the number

The Foreign Trade Administration, which produced the forecast, runs Israel’s foreign trade policy, its network of economic attachés in more than 55 trading capitals, its exporter assistance schemes and its free trade agreements. Its aid budget for 2025 came to roughly 34 million shekels, about $10.5 million. Its recent activity, according to the ministry, included hosting a senior Indian business delegation, signing a free trade agreement with Costa Rica and concluding an agricultural agreement with the United States as part of a wider tariff deal. Roy Fisher, who heads the Foreign Trade Division, said the trend “is not accidental” and reflected sustained work by attachés and assistance programmes.

What is still unclear

The announcement did not break down which industries within goods exports fell hardest, or how much of the decline reflects demand rather than shipping, insurance and boycott-related friction. It did not say what share of services exports is booked by a small number of large technology firms, and it gave no figure for imports or for the trade balance. The trillion-dollar target Barkat cited came with no interim milestones.