Israeli exporters are nervous about the repercussions of the crisis in Greece on the Euro-NIS exchange rate. According to exporters, if the crisis weakens the Euro, Israeli export business to Europe will be harmed. “The main concern is the impact of the crisis on the Euro exchange rate. If the Euro weakens against the dollar, that would be an issue. The Euro is already down a few percentage points from the previous year” says Amir Porat, product manager of EDOM Fruits.
According to Porat, the Israeli export season for fruits is set to begin in August, with August and September being the peak months in the quantity of exports out of Israel to Europe. For that reason, fruit exporters have not yet shipped much fruit and thus have been able to avoid a situation where it is unclear if they will be able to profit from their produce. However, the question mark hovering over the market raises concerns among Israeli fruit exporters.
“There is export out of Israel to Greece, but with relatively lower volumes compared with the years before the crisis. The Greeks have some local production and they are more suited to receive produce over land from Europe; they are also able to import fruit from Turkey for relatively good prices” says Porat. Regarding his own company, Porat says that if EDOM Fruits does export to Greece it will only be to long-standing and familiar clients, or to clients with Israeli ownership, and these deals will likely be done in cash.
