Agents for 450 Turkish Companies Meet With Israeli Importers

Representatives of about 450 Turkish companies in sectors ranging from food to construction and metals met in Istanbul on Tuesday with representatives of nearly 60 Israeli import companies for business-to-business meetings. The companies are members of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. It is the largest Israeli trade delegation to travel to Turkey in a quarter century, according to Bloomberg.

Israeli businesses are seeking to increase imports from Turkey because maritime shipping costs are making supplies from China expensive, according to Bloomberg. Israel mainly imports steel and iron from Turkey, along with construction materials. Turkey’s exports to Israel increased 35% to at least $6.2 billion last year while imports from Israel came to about $2 billion in the same period, according to official Turkish government data cited by Bloomberg.

“The significant increase of imports from Turkey, which has already reached $6.2 billion, in a wide variety of products, will reduce the cost of import to Israel. This is another way for us to contribute to combat the rising cost of living in Israel and to upgrade relations,” according to Uriel Lynn, president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce.