Israel, the country of the Jewish people, is a land of biblical, religious, ethnic and cultural identity with more than 4000 years of history. Witnessed many upheavals throughout history, with the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence was restored after 2000 years. Up to now, Israel, with a very small area of just over 20,000 square kilometres, is known as the "Silicon Valley" of the world in many fields such as agriculture, water technology, etc.

Israel, the country of the Jewish people, is a land of biblical, religious, ethnic and cultural identity with more than 4000 years of history. Witnessed many upheavals throughout history, with the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence was restored after 2000 years. Up to now, Israel, with a very small area of just over 20,000 square kilometres, is known as the "Silicon Valley" of the world in many fields such as agriculture, water technology, etc.

1. Overview of the economy

From 2021 to the present, the political situation in Israel has undergone many changes. On June 13, 2021, the National Assembly (Knesset) of Israel held a plenary session, voting to approve the formation of a new government. Naftali Bennett - Chairman of the Yamina party, was officially becoming the 13th Prime Minister of Israel, ending the political deadlock that has lasted for more than two years in Israeli politics. However, in 2022, Yair Laid - Chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, who under Mr. Bennett took the position of Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, became Prime Minister of Israel. Many economic changes have accompanied political changes in Israel.

In early June 2021, Israel plans to open an Economic Office in Abu Dhabi, UAE to attract investment capital and promote economic relations with Gulf countries and the Arab world; at the same time, for the first time, Israel was elected as a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the term 2022-2023 with 153 votes in favour. This step further strengthens the position of this country in the global forums. At the same time, Israel officially opened its embassy in the UAE at the end of June 2021, at the same time as Bahrain officially appointed its first Ambassador to Israel and Honduras opened an embassy in Jerusalem on the occasion of the official visit to Israel of this country's president.

In 2021, despite continuing to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Israel's economy continues to recover and the fiscal deficit continues to decrease, while government revenue increases sharply. According to the Finance Ministry of Israel, the cumulative fiscal deficit for the past 12 months, ending May 2021, is 149.2 billion NIS (equivalent to 46.2 billion USD) or which is 10, 5% of GDP; compared with NIS 158.9 billion or 11.2% of GDP at the end of April. After skyrocketing due to the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the financial deficit began to decrease in March 2021, when the cumulative figure for 12 months fell to 12.1% of GDP (equivalent to 169.4 billion NIS or 52.61 billion USD), compared with 12.4% of GDP accumulated in the 12 months ending February 2021.

By 2022, Israel's economy is recorded to be recovering and developing quite quickly, the labour market is tightly controlled and many jobs are created, GDP growth in the second quarter of 2022 will reach 6.8%. Israel's GDP growth is forecasted to reach 6% in the whole of 2022 and fall to 3% in 2023. However, with the year 2022 of many political fluctuations in the world such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the price of goods and services in the country also recorded an increase, people's life faced many difficulties due to the expensive cost of living, especially the price of housing and real estate increased by approximately 20% compared to the same period last year. Before, there were even times when there was a shortage of goods.

In September 2022, the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.2%. Inflation as of the end of August 2022 remained at 4.6%. In the first 9 months of 2022, CPI increased by 4.3%. The financial surplus continued to grow. From the beginning of the year until now, budget revenue increased by 20.2% and budget expenditure decreased by 7.2% over the same period last year; by the end of September 2022, the financial surplus reached 15.7 billion NIS (equivalent to 4.49 billion USD) and equal to 0.9% of GDP. Unemployment stood at 3.4% as of the end of August 2022. The lending interest rate has been increased by the Central Bank of Israel to 2.0% and is expected to continue to increase to 2.75% in early October 2022, this will be the fifth increase since the beginning of this year. Foreign exchange reserves by the end of September 2022 reached approximately 186 billion USD, down 6.15 billion USD compared to August 2022 and equal to 36% of GDP. This is the 8th month in a row that the Central Bank of Israel has not bought foreign currency as it did last year to control the appreciation of the shekel (NIS) (In January 2022, the Central Bank only bought the amount of foreign currency equal to356 million USD).

2. Israel exchange information:

- Agricultural products: fruits, vegetables, cotton fiber, beef, poultry, dairy products.

- Industrial products: high-tech products (including aeronautics, communications, computer design and manufacture, electronics, medical, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potassium and phosphates, food, beverage, and tobacco, soda (NaOH), cement, pharmaceuticals, construction, metal products, chemical products, plastics, cut diamonds, textiles, footwear.

In the first 8 months of 2022, Israel exported goods with a turnover of 44.4 billion USD, imported goods reached 73.3 billion USD, and the trade deficit reached 28.9 billion USD.

- Main export items:

In May 2021, industrial and mining products (excluding diamonds) reached 4.04 billion USD, manufactured diamonds reached 258.9 million USD, rough diamonds reached 141.1 million USD, agricultural products reached 141.1 million USD. -forestry-fishery-seafood reached 65.0 million USD.

In 2022, the data of the first 10 months of the year shows that rough diamond exports reached 1.37 billion USD, Israel's manufactured diamond exports reached approximately 3.4 billion USD. Especially, the export of industrial and mining products reached US$ 49.3 billion and the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products reached US$ 866.8 million. Overall exports of Israel in the first 10 months of 2022 equaled 54.7 billion USD.

- Main imported items:

In the first 10 months of 2022, Israel received an increase in imports with a total import of 89.2 billion USD. Major imports include: consumer goods (20.8 billion USD), raw materials (38.67 billion USD), fuel (12.39 billion USD), investment assets (11.6 billion USD), billion USD), etc.

3. Key economic sectors

Key economic sectors include high-tech products, metal products, electronic and biomedical equipment, agricultural products, food processing, chemicals, transportation equipment; Israel is also one of the world's leading centers for diamond processing.

Israel depends on imports of oil, raw materials, wheat, vehicles, uncut diamonds and a number of other inputs for production. However, the full dependence on imported energy may change as Israel recently discovered large reserves of natural gas off its coast.

3.1. Agriculture

2.8% of Israel's GDP is from agriculture. Of the total employment in the territory of 2.7 million people, 2.6% are employed in agricultural production and 6.3% in agriculture-related services. While Israel imports a large amount of grain (approximately 80% of its consumption), the country is almost self-sufficient in agricultural products and other packaged foods. For centuries, farmers have grown many different types of citrus fruits such as grapefruit, oranges, and lemons. Citrus fruits are Israel's main agricultural export. Besides, Israel is also a leading exporter of food grown in greenhouses. Israel exports more than $1.3 billion in agricultural products each year, in addition to $1.2 billion in agricultural inputs and products.

3.2. Technology

Science and technology is one of the most highly developed and highly industrialized fields in Israel. The percentage of Israeli workers engaged in science and technology, as well as the proportion of capital invested in research and development as a share of gross domestic product, ranks among the highest in the world. Israel ranks fourth in the world in terms of scientific works per million inhabitants. The percentage of scientific articles originating from Israel out of the total number of scientific articles in the world is 10 times the percentage of the population of Israel in the total population of the world. Israel has the highest average number of scientists, technical experts and engineers per 10,000 employees in the world: 140 people. The ratio in the US is 85 and in Japan, it is 83 people per 10,000 workers. Israeli scientists have contributed to progress in the fields of natural sciences, agricultural sciences, computer science, electronics, genetics, medicine, optics, solar energy and many other technical fields. Israel has the base of many leading high-tech companies and a highly technically savvy population.

3.3. Industry

Israel has a highly developed chemical industry with many products aimed at export markets. Most of the chemical plants are located in Ramat Hovav, Haifa Bay and the area near the Dead Sea. Israel Chemicals Company - Israel Chemicals is one of the largest chemical and fertilizer companies in Israel. Its subsidiary, Dead Sea Works in Sdom, is the world's fourth largest manufacturer and supplier of potassium-based products. The company also manufactures a number of other products such as magnesium chloride (MgCl2), industrial salts, defrosting agents, bath salts - bath salts, table salt, raw materials for the cosmetic industry. One of the largest employers in Israel is Israel Aerospace Industries, which produces mainly civil and defense aviation products. Another large employer is Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which in 2011 employed 40,000 employees.

3.4. Defense industry

Israel is one of the leading exporters of military equipment, accounting for 10% of the world market in 2007. Israel has three companies on the list of 100 companies supplying weapons and military services in 2010 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and RAFAEL.

The defence industry in Israel is a strategically important industry and is also a major employer in the country. It is a major player in the global arms market and is the 11th largest arms exporter in the world in 2012. The total value of arms transfers between 2004 and 2011 reached $12.9 billion. There are more than 150 defence companies based in Israel with total annual revenue of $3.5 billion. Israel's defence equipment exports reached 7 billion USD in 2012, an increase of 20% compared to 2011. Most of the goods are exported to Europe and the US.

Areas of heavy purchases of Israeli defence equipment include Southeast Asia and Latin America. India is Israel's largest arms market. Israel is considered the top exporter of drones in the world. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israel is behind 41 per cent of the drones exported between 2001 and 2011.

4. Vietnamese goods in the Israel market

Vietnam's goods exports to Israel grew by 25% per year in the period 2014 - 2018. In 2018 alone, Vietnam exported about $946.326 million worth of goods to Israel, ranking 20th among 100 countries exporting to Israel, an increase of 58% compared to 2017, accounting for 0.3% of Vietnam's total exports. The main export items are food such as cashews, seafood of all kinds including tuna, frozen shrimp, squid, soft drinks of all kinds..., textiles, footwear, and consumer goods. and household appliances, sporting goods and supplies, processed and dried fruit, coffee, tea, and spices.

In the first six months of 2021, the Israeli market situation has many complicated and confusing changes. As for Vietnam's exports to Israel, in the first 5 months of 2021, except for coffee, it decreased by 17.5% and textiles of all kinds decreased by 13.2%; most of the remaining key export products increased sharply compared to the same period last year, in which, footwear of all kinds increased by 87.3%, seafood increased by 36.5%, phones and accessories increased by 19.5%, cashew nuts by 15.5%, footwear of all kinds by 87.3%. As for seafood products, as of June 15, 2021, tuna exports to Israel reached US$16.63 million, up 34.7% over the same period last year, accounting for 5.2% Total export turnover of this item of the whole country and Israel is one of the top 10 import markets of Vietnam's tuna (as of the end of May 2021, ranking third, after the US and Italy, for tuna of HS code 03; and ranked 4th, after the US, Italy and Japan for HS code 16 tuna). Statistics by the end of May 2021 show that frozen shrimp products reached US$5.12 million, accounting for 0.4% of the country's total export turnover of this item; frozen squid products reached US$1.35 million, accounting for 0.6% of the country's total export turnover of this item; pangasius products reached 1.62 million USD, accounting for 0.3% of the total export turnover of this item of the country. Frozen shrimp and squid products continue to have a stable foothold in the market and are highly appreciated by Israeli consumers. Currently, Israel is the 22nd seafood export market out of over 100 markets to which Vietnam has exported seafood.

In addition, fragrant rice, long grain, 5% broken, packed in 5kg bags; dry foods such as rice paper rolls, rice paper rolls, and shrimp puffs.... continue to enter and be distributed in the Israeli market. Some Israeli businesses continue to be interested in canned food products, agricultural products of all kinds, dried vegetables and fruits, canned fruits (frozen sliced pineapple, ...), soft drinks, textiles, medical gloves, packaging of all kinds, construction materials and are continuing to trade with Vietnamese companies to be able to sign contracts in the near future.

(The information about the Israeli market is provided by the Vietnam Trade Office in Israel)