Importation Taxes

Preliminary data for 2005 show that the value of importation for 2005 (not including diamonds) totaled 35.7 billion dollars compared to 32 Billion dollars in 2004 - an increase of 11.5%.

Importation of vehicles and Durable Goods

An analysis of preliminary data for 2005 shows that:

• In 2005 there was a moderate increase in importation of durable goods (except for vehicles, refrigerators and videos). This is due to the sharp increase in importation of durables goods in 2004 which characterized the changes in private consumption. This is a result of the economic recovery in 2004 and the reduction of taxes on durable goods in 2004. Preliminary estimations show that private consumption increased by 4% in 2005.
• The increase in importation was not constant, the value of vehicles and spare parts increased by 6% (importation of passenger vehicles saw a decrease of over 2.3%, commercial vehicles saw an increase of 20%); import of electronic goods increased by over 10%; import of cigarettes increased relatively moderately by 3%; importation of household electrical products increased by 3%.

Passenger and Commercial Vehicles

• Importation of passenger vehicles totaled 137 vehicles in 2005 compared to 140 thousand vehicles in 2004 - a moderate decrease of 2.3%. This decrease came after an especially sharp increase in importation of vehicles in 2004 compared to 2003 which was the year in which the least amount of vehicles were imported within the past 10 years.
• The economic reform plan in purchase tax on vehicles (reduction of tax rates and increased tax incentives for safety equipment announced in September 2005, influenced the division of sales with a certain slowing of sales with the expectation of lowering prices even though some of the imports already reduced the prices before the reform plan took place.
• The dollar and EURO rates in 2005 were similar to the rates of 2004, therefore the strengthening of the EURO during the past several years contributed to the continuation of the decrease in vehicle parts imported from Europe, while some of the vehicles imported in Yen and dollar increased despite the strengthening of the dollar in the past few months. 13,100 commercial vehicles were imported in 20056, an increase of 18%, compared to 2004. The cancellation of the VAT for purchases of commercial vehicles several months ago probably influenced sales this year. Some of the dealers purchased their vehicles earlier than expected to benefit from this incentive and thereby contributed to the increase in importation compared to 2005.

Durable Goods

• Other durable goods saw a moderate increase in importation in 2005 compared to 2004, for example, importation of televisions increased by 5%, importation of DVD increased by 17%, importation of refrigerators remained unchanged. Importation of dishwashers increased by 6%, clothes dryers, by 8%. The accumulating contribution of electrical products and electronics to State Revenue is not high in light of the low customs rates in these products. In December, the trend of importation of durable goods as it was during the year I which increases at lower rates of increased in most of the goods.

 

IMPORTATION OF VEHICLES AND PARTS - December 2005 (in millions of US$)
(Quantity in Units,Value in millions of $ and Purchase Tax Revenue in Millions of NIS)

ACCUMULATING - FROM BEGINNING OF THE YEAR
Vehicle and Parts	Type	Jan.- December 2004			Jan.- December 2005			Change in %
		Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $
	Passenger	140,218	1,573	5,724	136,939	1,550	5,880	-2.3	-1.5	2.7
	Commercial	11,102	148	503	13,142	178	567	18.4	20.1	12.8
	Two-Wheeled	9,390	17	44	10,480	19	51	11.6	15.4	15.9
	Trucks and tractors	4,504	181	42	6,669	291	10	48.1	61.3
	Spare parts		288	233		297	233		3.1	-0.3
	TOTAL		2,206	6,546		2,335	6,740		5.8	3.0

MONTHLY
Type	December 2004			December 2005			Change in %			Change in % Compared to Previous Month
	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in Shekels
Passenger	15,706	178	647	15,678	184	685	-0.2	3.0	5.9	46.1	59.2	51.8
Commercial	1,265	18	59	1,207	17	53	-4.6	-6.0	-10.9	21.8	19.1	21.8
Two-Wheeled	568	1	3	876	2	4	54.2	30.4	28.6	-13.7	-3.6	0.5
Trucks and tractors	387	19	4	611	19	1	57.9	1.0		15.5	34.6
Spare parts		26	21		29	18		11.0	-13.5		17.5	-14.8
TOTAL		243	733		250	760		3.2	3.6		47.2	46.1

Accumulating From The Beginning of the Year
Product		Jan.- December 2004			Jan.- December 2005			Change in %
		Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $
Household Elec. Appliances	Refrigerators	209,912	74.9		209,364	77.0		-0.3	2.8
	Washing Machines	203,612	51.4		214,263	53.4		5.2	4.0
	Clothes Dryer	51,845	9.8		56,250	10.1		8.5	3.4
	Dish Washer	56,879	17.8		60,317	17.7		6.0	-0.2
	Other		116.3			120.5			3.6
	TOTAL		270	82		279	77		3.2	-5.8
EntertainmentEle	T.V.	403,288	99.9		423,891	123.8		5.1	23.9
	Video	68,233	7.6		44,525	5.4		-34.7	-28.8
	DVD	409,630	24.9		479,565	30.2		17.1	21.2
	Other		163.9			166.5			1.6
	TOTAL		296	193		326	196		10.0	1.3
Cigarettes (Thousands of packets)		270,724	110.1	2206.4	282,738	113.9	2483.8	4.4	3.4	12.6

MONTHLY
Product		Jan.- December 2004			Jan.- December 2005			Change in %			Change in % Compared to Previous Month
		Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in $	Quantity	Value in $	Revenue in NIS
Household Elec. Appliances	Refrigerators	12,724	4.5		15,166	5.6		19.2	25.1		17	20.7
	Washing Machines	19,460	5.0		19,635	4.9		0.9	-2.3		13	18.0
	Clothes Drier	9,266	1.9		8,570	1.5		-7.5	-21.8		-21	-15.7
	Dish Washer	4,468	1.4		4,470	1.3		0.0	-5.1		-5	1.0
	Other		10.4			8.6			-17.5
	TOTAL		23	5		22	7		-5.6	20.6		-3.2	6.7
EntertainmentEle	T.V.	37,450	9.1		30,010	10.1		-19.9	11.6		-9	-7.5
	Video	5,129	0.8		2,765	0.3		-46.1	-64.0		30	-2.0
	DVD	45,769	2.8		26,530	1.8		-42.0	-36.3		4	-19.4
	Other		16.8			11.1			-33.9
	TOTAL		29	17		23	15		-20.9	-13.7		-15.6	-27.8
Cigarettes (Thousands of packets)		21,944	9.0	186.8	23,344	8.5	203.7	6.4	-6.2	9.0	-1.5	-9.3	-3.0

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