Arab trade with Israel increases in year of Gaza war

As the war on Gaza enters its second year, official Israeli data obtained by "Arab Post" shows that the total trade exchange between the Arab countries with Israel increased during the months of the war compared to before, and the volume of exchange with Israel reached $4 billion, and the data shows that the volume of trade between Egypt and Israel during the war is the highest in a decade. 

Recent data on Arab trade with Israel during the war indicate that Arab countries increased their exports and imports (or one of them) with Israel during the months of the war that began on October 7, 2023, which indicates that the economic relations of the printing countries with Israel were not affected by the anger of the Arab street over the continuation of trade with the occupation during the war, in which Israel committed massacres and caused the death of at least 41,000 martyrs, and at least 96,000 wounded, until the beginning of October 2024.

And the UAE accounted for more than two-thirds of the volume of trade of Arab countries with Israel during the war period, as the volume of trade with Israel exceeds the total volume of trade exchange with the rest of the other Arab countries combined, and in the next paragraphs, we will discuss in detail the volume of trade between each Arab country separately with Israel.

And this data is issued by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (the government), and deals with the volume of exports and imports (without diamonds) between Israel on the one hand, and the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain, on the other hand, and covers the period from October 2023 until the end of August 2024. 

Our analysis of the data focuses on 3 aspects:

First: The volume of exports and imports between Arab countries and Israel, since the beginning of the war on Gaza, until the end of August 2024, as the Israeli Statistics Office has not published until today, October 7, 2024, the trade exchange statistics for September 2024. 

Second: Comparing the volume of exports and imports during the war months, with the same months of 2022 and 2023.

Third: The percentage of Abraham Accords countries (UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco) in trade with Israel during the war.

Arab countries have exported more to Israel than they have imported

Israeli official data show that the value of exports of the five Arab countries to Israel reached $2 billion and $897 million, (from October 2023, until the end of August 2024).

And Arab exports to Israel during the war months increased by $122 million, compared to the same period from 2022 and 2023 (from October 2022 to the end of August 2023), reaching $2 billion and $771 million.

And for Israel's imports to Arab countries during the months of the war, they amounted to $1 billion and $104 million, while the value of imports during the same months of 2022 and 2023 was $923.6 million.

Thus, the volume of trade exchange (exports and imports without diamonds) between the printing countries and Israel reached $ 4 billion, during the months of the war on Gaza, while the volume of exchange during the same months of 2022 and 2023: 3.6 billion. 

The following is the percentage of each Arab country in terms of exchange volume:

$2.8 billion in UAE exports to Israel in war

According to Israeli data, the volume of trade exchange between the UAE and Israel (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024) amounted to $2.8 billion, the bulk of which was exports from the UAE to Israel.

And the value of Emirati exports to Israel during the war amounted to 2 billion and 286 million dollars, an increase of 122 million dollars over the same period from 2022 and 2023, and data indicate that the UAE is the most Arab country exported to Israel during the war.

The month of October 2023, in which the war began, recorded the lowest number of Emirati exports to Israel, at $135.1 million, but with the start of the war, Emirati exports increased, reaching a peak in January 2024, reaching $252.1 million.

The UAE also topped the volume of Israeli imports to the five Arab countries during the war on Gaza, and Israeli imports to the UAE amounted to $516.1 million, while the value of imports in the same months of 2022 and 2023: $645.5 million. 

June 2024 recorded the highest value of Israeli imports to the UAE, amounting to $54.2 million.

And the analysis of the data shows that the volume of trade exchange between the UAE and Israel during the war on Gaza is the second largest exchange between the two sides since the normalization of relations between them in 2020, and the data indicate that:

– In 2020, the volume of trade exchange between the UAE and Israel amounted to $189.8 million. 

– In 2021, the trade exchange amounted to $1.221 billion. 

– In 2022, the volume of trade exchange reached $2.527 billion.

– In 2023, the volume of trade exchange reached $2.9 billion. 

– From October 2023 (the date of the start of the war) to August 2024: The volume of trade exchange,  $2.8 billion.

And the data of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not indicate the type of exports and imports between the UAE and Israel, but the trade relations between them are governed by a free trade agreement signed in 2022, which was the first of its kind between an Arab country and Tel Aviv, and the agreement stipulated "96 percent exemption from customs duties on all goods immediately or gradually." 

Trade exchange between Egypt and Israel during the war is the highest in a decade 

Egypt ranks second among Arab countries in terms of the value of trade exchange with Israel (without diamonds) during the war on Gaza, and the value of exchange (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024): $548.4 million, while the volume of exchange between the two sides during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $326 million.

Data analyzed by the Arab Post show that the volume of trade exchange (exports and imports without diamonds) between Egypt and Israel during the 11 months of the Gaza war, is the highest since 2014. 

And in the details of the trade exchange between Egypt and Israel (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024), the official Israeli data show that Egypt has clearly increased its exports and imports with Israel during the months of the war, and doubled in value in some months. 

And for exports, the data suggests that:

– Egypt's exports to Israel (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024) amounted to: $193.9 million, while the value of exports during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $179.2 million. 

– The lowest value of Egyptian exports to Israel was in October 2023, amounting to $7.8 million, and then doubled during the months of the war several times. During July 2024, exports amounted to $30.6 million, meaning that July exports were about 4 times what they were at the beginning of the war.

And Egypt doubled the value of its imports with Israel during the war, and amounted (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024), to $354.5 million, an increase of 141%, compared to the same months of 2022 and 2023 ($146.9 million).

The month of December 2023 was the highest in terms of Israeli imports to Egypt, amounting to $ 89.5 million, and with the continuation of the war, the value of Israeli imports to Egypt has multiplied several times, as the data show: 

In April 2024, Egypt imported $8.3 million from Israel, but in July 2024, the value of Israeli imports amounted to $45.4 million, an increase of 446.9%. 

And while the official data from the Israeli Statistics Office did not indicate the type of products that the occupation imported from Egypt, some of these products are known, and the "Arabi Post" in an investigation published on June 24, 2024 highlighted dozens of Egyptian products that reached Israeli importers, most of them food. 

Jordan's exports to Israel drop, imports increase

Jordan ranked third among the Arab countries in the volume of trade exchange with Israel, since (October 2023 until the end of August 2024), and the volume of exchange amounted to $398.5 million, most of which were exports from Jordan to Israel, while the value of exchange during the same period from 2022 and 2023 amounted to $474.9 million.

"Analysis of official Israeli data shows various indicators of Jordanian exports to Israel during the war: 

- Jordan increased its imports from Israel during the war, as data show that Jordan imported from Israel (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024), with a value of $96.9 million, an increase of 34.5% over the value of imports during the same months of 2022 and 2023, which at the time amounted to $72 million. 

– October 2023 was the lowest month in which Jordan imports from Israel, and imports amounted to $4.7 million, but during the rest of the war months, Israeli imports to Jordan increased and doubled, reaching $20.5 million in April 2024, meaning that imports increased in April 336% over the value of imports in the first month of the war on Gaza.

– As for exports, the value of Jordan's exports to Israel from the beginning of the war until the end of August 2024 amounted to $301.6 million, which is $101.3 million less than the value of Jordan's exports to Israel from October 2022 until the end of August 2023, as the value of exports during this period amounted to $402.9 million. 

Despite the decline in the value of Jordanian exports during the war, it was second only to the UAE in the volume of exports to Israel during the war. 

Despite the decline in the total value of Jordanian exports to Israel during the war, the data show that Jordan doubled the value of its exports to Israel in some months of the war.

For example, in November 2023, Jordan exported $15 million to Israel, and in July 2024, the value of exports doubled to $42.4 million, an increase of 182%. 

According to official data from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, which was seen by "Arabi Post", Jordan exported 46,539 tons of vegetables to Israel from the beginning of the war on Gaza until the beginning of August 2024.

And Jordan is now stopping the export of vegetables and fruits to Israel, and Israel had said in August that it had stopped the import of Jordanian vegetables and fruits, and Tel Aviv claimed that this decision was caused by the discovery of the bacterium "cholera" in the waters of the "Yarmouk River", but Jordan denied the validity of Israel's claims, and confirmed the safety of the river's water from any pollution. 

Morocco to double imports from Israel

Morocco, too, increased its trade with Israel during the war, during the period from October 2023 to the end of August 2024, the volume of trade exchange (without diamonds) reached $143 million, while the value of exchange during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $72.3 million, an increase of 97.7%. 

And Israeli data show that Morocco significantly doubled its imports from Israel during the months of the war by 129.2%, and the value of imports (from October 2023 to August 2024) amounted to $129.5 million, while imports during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $56.5 million. 

November 2023 is the lowest month during the war in which Morocco imported from Israel, and the value of imports amounted to $2.7 million, and during the rest of the war months the value of imports doubled significantly, reaching in December 2023, to $53.9 million, which doubled 19 times. 

And for exports, the value of Israeli exports to Morocco from October 2023 to August 2024 amounted to $13.5 million, while during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $15.8 million. 

And during some months of war, Morocco doubled its exports from Israel, and in October 2023, Morocco's exports to Israel amounted to $700,000, and in April 2024, exports doubled and reached $2.4 million. 

Moroccan exports to Israel focus on clothing and food, while Israeli exports to Morocco include transport equipment, chemical products, plastics and rubber, according to the Israeli government website. 

Bahrain's exports to Israel have doubled 9.5 times

And the official Israeli data indicate a remarkable doubling in trade exchange between Bahrain and Israel, during the war on Gaza, as the exchange increased by 791.8% during the period (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024). 

And the data show that the trade exchange between the two sides during the months of the war amounted to $109.6 million, while the value of the exchange during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $12.3 million, meaning that the exchange doubled nearly 9 times. 

The value of Bahraini exports to Israel (from October 2023 to August 2024) reached $102.4 million, while the value of exports during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $9.6 million. 

The month of March 2024 recorded the highest value of Bahraini exports to Israel during the war on Gaza, with the value of exports reaching $33.4 million, and the analysis of data shows that the value of Bahraini exports to Israel during March 2024, is the highest since October 2022. 

And for Israeli imports to Bahrain, the data shows that they increased by 166%  During the war on Gaza, imports (from October 2023 to August 2024) amounted to $7.2 million, while during the same months of 2022 and 2023: $2.7 million. 

Abraham Accords countries account for the largest percentage of Arab trade with Israel

In another aspect indicated by the data of trade exchange between Arab countries and Israel, during the war with Gaza, the analysis of the data shows that the bulk of this exchange was carried out by the "Abraham Accords countries", namely, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, and these countries are the ones that signed normalization agreements with the Israeli occupation in the second half of 2020, which Israel calls the "Abraham Accords."

The volume of trade between these three countries combined and Israel was 3 billion and 54 million dollars, out of the 4 billion dollars that is the total volume of exchange between the printing countries and Israel during the war. 

That is, these three countries accounted for 76.3% of the volume of trade with Israel during the war, and according to the data: 

Exports of the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain to Israel during the war amounted to $2.4 billion.

Israel’s imports to these three countries during the war amounted to $652 million. 

The continuation of this trade exchange between the Arab countries and Israel comes at a time when the destructive Israeli war on Gaza is entering its second year, and this war has left an unprecedented massive destruction in Gaza, causing the death and injury of tens of thousands, and the spread of famine from the north of the Strip to the south.