2. ISRAEL
2.1 Introduction
The citrus industry is an important export industry in Israel. [ Appendix 1 provides information on the growth of Israel's major agricultural industries during the 1990s with a more detailed breakdown of the fruit sector.] It produces in excess of 1 million metric tonnes of citrus fruit, but this is still less than 2% of world production. During 1991 a regulation was passed to remove the single desk selling arrangement for citrus fruit and allow multiple firms to be involved in exporting. Since the change, its impact has been disputed by supporters and critics. This section of the report documents in summary form the history of citrus marketing in Israel, the changes and the subsequent performance of the sector.
2.2 Context and History
When examining horticultural export arrangements in Israel it is important to recognise the important role of Socialism in Israel’s recent history. This can be seen in the historical importance of the Labour Party, the collective enterprises of Moshavim and Kibbutz, the State’s ownership of most land and a strong emphasis on legislated equality. The Citrus Marketing Board along with Agrexco (the SOE exporting many agricultural and horticultural crops) was just one manifestation of this Socialistic impulse. The current reforms to both of these organisations are part of a wider rethink of economic policies by contemporary Israelis. Further, they are occurring in an economy with a growing population undergoing transition into services and modern manufacturing. Land is being rapidly moved from agricultural use to housing and economically viable production is being relocated.
Citrus fruit have been grown in Israel for centuries. The modern citrus industry was developed under the supervision of, and with the encouragement of the British Mandate Government between World War I and World War II. The industry collapsed during the second world war due to its inability to export fruit. Once the war was over, the British in 1948 established the Citrus Marketing Board of Palestine as part of a plan to resurrect the industry. This Board was given single desk selling powers. The industry successfully recovered and grew consistently over the period 1948 to 1979. However, during the 1980s the industry came upon hard times. These partly resulted from changes in the international citrus markets (see Appendix 2), partly from adverse changes in the Israeli economy and partly from the poor performance of the Citrus Marketing Board [ The major criticism of the Board mentioned by the "new" board and current industry participants is the pooling system. It is argued that the averaging of returns resulted in insufficient attention to quality. Two other frequently mentioned criticisms are the old board's homogeneous approach to all activities which did not satisfy the unique demands of specific customers, and the lack of incentives for efficiency.] . Despite the wide powers of the Board it was unable to stop this decade long industry decline. Figure 1 reports citrus export volumes for the period 1951 to 1997, and Table 1 presents some historical statistics. Table 2 provides more recent export statistics for the period 1981 to 1995 and Figure 2 shows the substantial fluctuations in unit prices for citrus fruit over this period.
| Figure 1 Israel Citrus
Export Volumes 1951 to 1997 |
| Table 1 Historical
Statistics: Israeli Citrus Industry |
||||
| Year 1951 1962 1971 1979 1984 1989 1992 1997 |
Area 133 365 390 390 360 335 295 290 |
Production 294 522 1510 1514 1435 1442 1011 976 |
Exports ('000 MT) 147 346 861 893 545 447 324 337 |
|
| Table 2 Israel
Citrus Export Prices 1981 to 1995 |
|||||
| Exports | Exports | Unit Price | Yr to Yr | % Change | |
| (MT) | ('000$US) | Change (%) | since 1981 | ||
| in Unit Price | in Unit Price | ||||
| 1981 | 888,807 | $247,170 | $278 | na | na |
| 1982 | 779,950 | $186,475 | $239 | -14% | -14% |
| 1983 | 651,615 | $163,452 | $251 | 5% | -10% |
| 1984 | 560,427 | $117,171 | $209 | -17% | -25% |
| 1985 | 556,606 | $173,028 | $311 | 49% | 12% |
| 1986 | 538,450 | $175,374 | $326 | 5% | 17% |
| 1987 | 551,236 | $205,680 | $373 | 15% | 34% |
| 1988 | 516,647 | $177,502 | $344 | -8% | 24% |
| 1989 | 371,725 | $131,641 | $354 | 3% | 27% |
| 1990 | 501,777 | $180,523 | $360 | 2% | 29% |
| 1991 | 359,981 | $172,673 | $480 | 33% | 72% |
| 1992 | 288,225 | $116,650 | $405 | -16% | 46% |
| 1993 | 262,368 | $120,886 | $461 | 14% | 66% |
| 1994 | 261,276 | $126,771 | $485 | 5% | 74% |
| 1995 | 346,549 | $172,573 | $498 | 3% | 79% |
| Figure 2 Percentage Changes
in Citrus Export Prices 1981 to 1995 |
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
Contact this person
