The decision of Turkey to stop any bilateral commerce with Israel estimated at $7 billion per year greatly impacted both exporters and importers, forcing them to look for alternative options and methods of transportation amid the continuous disruption to maritime commerce in the Red Sea. This has weakened the potential of shipping goods to Turkey’s Far East. Israeli importers are examining ways to ship products through third-country countries like Slovenia and Slovenia, despite the routes being more lengthy and costly. In addition, there is a possibility that some importers will have move from Turkish supplier to more expensive alternative suppliers in Europe or the US.

The halt in trade was announced by Turkey in response to the situation until a lasting ceasefire and assistance to the people of Gaza is guaranteed, in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas which started on the 7th of October. In April Turkey has already placed restrictions on the export of 54 items to Israel. Elad Barshan, co-founder and director of SlickChain spoke out about the sudden impact of the Turkish decision and the immediate consequences, highlighting the challenges it presents to importers who rely on speedy and cost-effective delivery times provided from Turkish imports. This halt in trade relations with Turkey which is Israel’s fifth biggest importer of goods presents significant issues, particularly because Israeli firms had planned to boost imports from Turkey as a response to increasing cost of shipping and disruptions caused due to attacks on trade maritime.

The year before the exports made towards Israel from Turkey are estimated to be $5.4 billion. This accounted for the 6% portion of Israel’s overall imports. That’s a reduction by $7.03 billion by 2022. In contrast, imports into Turkey from Israel totaled $1.6 billion by 2023.

Source: timesofisrael.com

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