Israel Trade
Commission
website
ISRAEL TRADE COMMISSION
Commercial News from Israel
January 2006
Dear friends and colleagues,
INVESTMENT
SUCCESS
STORIES
2005 REVIEW
The political situation in Israel is one of uncertainty and concern for the health of
the Prime Minister. The entire country's hopes and prayers are with Prime
Minister Sharon at this time. But, even during this grime time, the Israeli
economy is continuing to strengthen. Both the acting Prime Minister, Ehud
Olmert, and the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fisher have emphasized
the continuity of the current macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies for the
country.
WATER
FOOD
IT
MEDICAL
SECURITY &
DEFENCE
EXHIBITIONS
IN ISRAEL
Israel Trade
Commission
6/37 York Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel: +61-2-9262 3943
Fax: +61-2-9262 5242
E:
info@israeltrade.org.au
Standard & Poor the leading credit rating company has issued a statement
expressing confidence in the Israeli economy. According to S&P Israel has
maintained its current S&P credit rating of A.
2006 will be an exciting year between Australia and Israel. The VISTECH R&D
fund between the State of Victoria and the State of Israel is on it's way. The
reports we are getting from both sides indicate enormous interest. I strongly
encourage Israeli companies, who have interest in collaborating with a partner in
Victoria, to look at the web site for information and to contact Hadas Bar-Or,
Director of International Cooperation – Asia and Australia, MATIMOP - Israeli
Industry Center for R&D, hadas-bar-or@matimop.org.il, and also look at the
following web site. http://www2.matimop.org.il/1/foreign/vistech.asp .
During 2006 we are planning an incoming Israeli delegation in the area of Health
IT - in March 06. More information can be found in the following web site.
http://www.export.gov.il/_Delegation/Item.asp?CategoryID=245&ArticleID=15
9
We are planning an outbound Australian delegation to Agritech in May, and to
Telecom in November - details on those delegation will be available in due
course.
Please feel free to contact us for any assistance required.
Nili Shalev
Israel Trade Commissioner
LAUNCH OF $US6M VICTORIAISRAEL R&D FUND
On 7 December 2005, the Minister for
Innovation, John Brumby, joined Israeli
Ambassador, Naftali Tamir, to launch a
US$6 million Victoria-Israel Science and
Technology Research and Development
Fund. Mr Brumby said the launch of the
VISTECH fund with Victoria was the first
such initiative Israel had formed with any
Australian state or partners.
The fund aims to promote, facilitate and
support joint science and technology
projects between Victorian and Israeli
entities that will lead to new or improved
products in the global market. VISTECH
Minister for Innovation, John Brumby, and Israeli Ambassador, Naftali
will fund up to 50 per cent of joint R&D
costs of Israeli-Victorian market-oriented Tamir sign the US$6 million Victoria-Israel Science and Technology
Research and Development Fund (VISTECH)
projects in areas like biotechnology
environmental technologies, healthcare
and advanced manufacturing. Mr
Brumby said VISTECH would begin in
2006 and with Israel and Victoria each
providing US$1 million each year over
three years with grants of up to
$US500,000 available for approved
projects.
Interested companies can contact
VISTECH at:
http://www.business.vic.gov.au/VISTECH
INVESTMENT
Privatization of Ashdod Oil Refineries
The Government of Israel has decided to split and privatize Oil Refineries
Ltd. (ORL). The refineries will be split into two companies; ORL Haifa
(ORH) and ORL Ashdod (ORA). The first phase will see ORA sold as a
whole by private tender. The second phase will entail ORH being IPO'ed on
the TASE.
A public announcement regarding the commencement of the ORA tender
was published in local and international press. A special website for this
process was aired. On the website the following documents can be found, in
both Hebrew and English; the privatization resolution, order of vital
interests, the sale procedure, the sale process outline, the public
announcement, and updates, should they be required.
The website address is:
www.gca.gov.il/bazan/English/default.htm
Invest in Israel
Invest in Israel have recently released a new promotional video. The video
can be seen by clicking on the following link:
www.investinisrael.gov.il/CmsTamat/Rsrc/InvestmentPromotionCenter/Invest-inIsrael.wmv
SUCCESS STORIES
Woolworths signs up
Israel's Retalix
'StoreLine'
In December, Australia's
leading retailer
Woolworths Limited
signed a contract for the
rollout of Retalix
'StoreLine' across the
group's chains. Retalix
Ltd. is an Israeli
company that provides
integrated enterprisewide software solutions
for the food and
consumer goods retail
and distribution
industries worldwide.
Israeli Drone lands
$145m Aussie Army
Contract
The Australian army
will use the Israel
Aircraft Industry (IAI)
I-View drone as its
"eyes in the sky" in a
$145 million contract
announced in
December by the
Defence Minister
Robert Hill. The tender
to provide the
unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAV) was
won by Boeing
Australia, which had
entered into a
Woolworths is
partnership with IAI,
Australia's leading
builder of the I-View
retailer with a food,
drone. Australia is to
liquor and grocery
be the first major
market share of 28
customer of the Ipercent and annual sales View.
of more than $20 billion.
The agreement covers
Senator Hill also
the Asia Pacific region
announced that the
and allows for the
Australian
deployment of Retalix
Government was
Tim Tams set to
reach one million
mark in Israel
One million packs of
Tim Tams are set to be
sold in the holy land
this year according to
Guild Enterprises who
export the biscuit to
Israel. Israel ranks fifth
in worldwide Tim
Tams sales following
Japan, the United
Kingdom, Fiji and
Canada.
The rise is largely
attributed to an
increase in marketing
funds for the chocolate
biscuit in Israel.
Arnott's, the biscuits
manufacturer, is now
contributing to
marketing and
advertising.
About 700,000 packets
of Tim Tams a year
have been sold in Israel
StoreLine as a consistent
platform throughout all
Woolworths stores,
commencing with 730
Woolworths
Supermarkets and 120
BIG-W general
merchandise stores. In
total, the first phase of
the project involves 850
stores and 14,500 pointof-sale terminals.
purchasing four Israelimade Skylark drones
for Australian forces in
Iraq. Elbit, an Israeli
rival to IAI,
manufactures the
Skylark.
for the past four years.
Mr. Elan, of Guild
Enterprises who
imports the biscuit
explained “many
young Israelis come to
Australia after
finishing their national
service to study or
relax, and they have
developed a taste for
the Tim Tam and
spread the word back
in Israel and in the
Palestinian
Territories.”
2005 REVIEW
Israeli per capita growth 3.3% in 2005
Israel’s 3.3% per capita growth in 2005 was among the highest in the entire
world. Israel’s per capita growth was higher than in the US (2.6%), Japan
(2.3%), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) as a whole (2%).
Israel’s per capita GDP was NIS 80,000 ($17,800). Only Ireland (3.4%),
Turkey (4.2%), and Iceland (5.3%) had higher per capital capita growth.
Israel’s growth in GDP was also among the world’s highest in 2005, but was
far below that of China and India. Israel’s 5.2% growth outpaced the US
(3.6%), the OECD (2.7%), Japan (2.4%), France (1.6%), and Germany
(1.1%), but lagged behind Turkey (5.8%) and Iceland (6.6%).
WATER
Mekorot: The WaTech initiative - Water goes high-tech
Mekorot, Israel’s national water corporation, has established a technology
support unit, WaTech, to serve as a platform for getting Israeli water-related
startups onto the wave of growth in the world water market.
New
technology
for water
disinfection
Atlantium, an
WaTech is a program supporting the expansion of Mekorot's water technology Israeli
solutions. WaTech offers early stage entrepreneurs beta site and commercial
plat-forms, technology analysis and support, access to global markets, and
assistance with strategic partnerships and capital. WaTech also offers more
mature water technology vendors the opportunity to enter into commercial
arrangements and joint projects with Mekorot.
company
developed a
new
technology for
water
disinfection. It
For further details:
uses ultra
www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051230_495029.htm violet (UV)
light to
disinfect water
and is 10,000
more effective
then existing
techniques.
With
impending
regulatory
changes in the
U.S. and other
countries, the
move from
chemical
disinfectants to
green nontoxic advanced
disinfection
solutions can
improve the
safety of the
water while
reducing its
cost. The new
system is also
strong enough
to kill the kind
of biological
agents bioterrorists
might use
inside water
reservoirs.
In various tests
conducted by
the company
using different
species of
microbes,
spores and
other
microscopic
life forms, the
system was
able to
inactivate
water born
organisms four
orders of
magnitude
more
effectively
then existing
UV systems,
meaning that
on average
only one in
10,000,000
organisms
escaped
inactivation.
This superior
performance
combined with
the system’s
ability to
disinfect about
1 million
gallons of
water a day
(approximately
150 cubic
meter an hour)
while
consuming
only 2.5 kW·h,
turns the
Atlantium
system into
one of the
most efficient
and cost
effective
systems in the
world.
The new
system has
many potential
markets, from
the water
companies
across the
world that
supply
drinking water
to the general
population to
the food and
beverage
industry which
requires large
quantities of
safe
disinfected
water in
products and
in cleaning
containers,
processing
tubes, etc.
FOOD
Strauss-Elite buys 50% of Brazil’s Cafe Santa Clara for $60m
Strauss-Elite Ltd. has acquired 50% of Cafe Santa Clara of Brazil for $60
million.
The merger will “make Strauss-Elite Israel’s largest food company, and the
seventh largest in the world,” after Nestle, Kraft Foods Inc., Sara Lee Corp.,
Procter & Gamble Company's Folger's brand coffee, Civo, and Segafredo
Zanetti.
By 2009, Strauss-Elite will have transferred over half its business overseas,
thereby becoming an international company, commented Strauss-Elite group
CEO Erez Vigodman at a press conference convened last night to mark the
acquisition of Cafe Santa Clara by Elite International’s Brazilian subsidiary
Cafe Tres Coracoes Ltd. Tres Coracoes has a company value of $33 million.
The merged company had proforma turnover of real 517 million (NIS 950
million) in 2005 and will have NIS 1.2 billion in 2006.
As a result of the merger, Strauss-Elite will control the second largest coffee
company in Brazil, the world’s second largest coffee market after the US.
Brazil coffee market totals $2 billion a year. The merged company controlled
11% of Brazil’s roast coffee market at the end of 2005, and is projected to
control 12% of the market in 2006.
IT
SMIC to make memory cards using ECI to expand Beijing Subway
Saifun NROM technology
network for 2008 Olympics
Chinese semiconductor foundry
Semiconductor Manufacturing
International Corporation is to use
Saifun Semiconductors' NROM
technology to develop and
manufacture Flash memory cards.
The licensing agreement is the
second between the two companies.
The first was signed in June 2005.
ECI Telecom announced that Beijing
Subway, the state-owned subway
system serving the greater Beijing
area and its outlying suburbs, has
selected ECI Telecom's solutions for
its internal communications network
in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics.
During the Olympics, it is expected
that millions of people will use the
NROM technology enables storage of public subway system every day. ECI
up to four bit-per-cell, or more than
is supplying Beijing Subway with the
double the storage capacity of a basic optical transmission to expand its
memory cell, and has a cell
network capabilities for video
architecture that requires fewer
monitoring, surveillance and safety in
manufacturing steps, thereby
the subway system.
reducing manufacturing costs.
ECI's XDM multi-service
provisioning platform (MSPP) was
chosen for expansion of the network
to handle the expected surge in
traffic.
"Israel is reemerging
as a global high-tech
Israeli designed diskon-key in top 10
Ceragon signs OEM
agreement with Nokia
hub," says Business
Week
A recent article
published in Business
Week magazine, hailed
Israel's high-tech
recovery. "Much growth
is expected to come
from the hundreds of
startups established in
recent years…" the
magazine reported. Over
200 new ventures were
established in 2005 with
an estimated 2,000
startups currently in
various stages of
development. After
several years of
stagnation, Business
Week comments that
there are signs that the
sector is mounting a
comeback, with the
demand for high-tech
workers in 2005 up
almost 19%. Foreign
investment in Israel also
rose sharply and exports
continue to increase,
with high-tech exports
climbing by almost 10%
in 2005.
The article points out
that some startups which
were established in the
early to mid-90's have
developed into local
giants, employing
thousands of workers.
These companies
include Check Point
Software Technologies,
Comverse Technology,
Nice Systems and
Syneron Medical. Hightech exports represent
world's best gadget list
In a list compiled by PC
World Magazine of 50
of the world's most
successful gadgets of the
past 50 years, MSystem's Disk-On-Key
made ninth place. "For
20 years people had
been predicting the death
of the floppy, but it took
a gadget the size of your
thumb to actually sound
the death knell," wrote
PC World of the Diskon-Key. M-Systems
introduced the flash
memory card to the
market five years ago as
the first device of its
type to eliminate the
need for PC drivers. The
top spots on the list went
to Tivo in third place,
Apple's iPod in second
place and Sony's
Walkman which was
launched in 1979, in first
place.
High-capacity
broadband wireless
systems provider
Ceragon Networks Ltd
announced that it signed
an original equipment
manufacturer (OEM)
agreement with mobile
communications leader
Nokia.
Under the agreement,
Nokia will include
Ceragon's high-capacity
FibeAir family with its
microwave radio
product portfolio to
provide complete
cellular transmission
networking solutions.
The product will be
branded Nokia
PowerHopper Vario.
nearly half of Israel's
industrial exports - "the
highest percentage
anywhere in the world."
MEDICAL
Se-cure signs $11m in distribution contracts
In recent months, Se-cure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has signed distribution
contracts totaling $11 million for Femarelle, its estrogen replacement for
treatment of osteoporosis. The new contract with Greece’s Lavipharma
Group is expected to generate at least $4.6 million in revenue over the next
two years, and the contract with Turkey’s Atamis Health Group is expected
to generate $6.5 million in revenue over the next three years. Atamis will
also help finance a clinical trial.
In December, Se-cure submitted a request to the Thai drug administration for
registration of Femarelle as a drug (it is registered as a food additive in the
US and the European Union (EU)). The company is also negotiating with US
hormone company Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc
Construction of New Poultry Vaccine
Imugene and Abic Biological Laboratories Teva Ltd., the animal health
division of Israeli-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., have signed an
agreement to develop and evaluate a new vaccine for the poultry coccidiosis
prevention market.
Imugene will construct vaccine candidates which will then be trialled at the
University of Technology Sydney. Abic Biological Laboratories Teva Ltd is
funding the vaccine product development feasibility study which will
combine Imugene’s patented Adenoviral Vector Delivery System with
patented coccidia genes supplied and owned by Abic Biological Laboratories
Teva Ltd.
Coccidiosis is one of the most common and costly diseases in poultry and is
prevalent worldwide. Apart from causing weight loss and poor feed
conversion, the death rate in chicks and in adult birds can also be high.
SECURITY & DEFENCE
Elisra wins $80m electronic warfare contract
Elbit Systems reported today that subsidiary, Elisra Electronic Systems Ltd.
has completed the finalization process for a contract valued at approximately
$80 million to supply full electronic warfare (EW) suites for fighter aircrafts
to an international customer. The customer was not named.
The contract will be performed over a three-year period.
The Elisra Group comprises Elisra Electronic Systems Ltd., Tadiran
Electronic Systems Ltd. and Tadiran Spectralink Ltd. The group designs,
develops, manufactures, integrates and supports advanced system solutions
for air, sea and land deployment in over 25 countries. The Elisra Group is a
70% subsidiary of Elbit Systems.
Boeing Australia, Soltam to bid on $500m defense deal
Boeing Australia Limited and Soltam Systems signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) to form a partnership to jointly respond to the
Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) requirement to enhance the Australian
Army’s indirect fire support system otherwise known as project Land 17.
The contract has an estimated value of $500 million.
Soltam Systems general manager Moshe Charash stated that Soltam Systems
and Boeing Australia partnership offers the ADF integrated artillery solutions
with state of the art 155mm, 52 caliber artillery systems unique for high fire
power, mobility, rapid deployment, short response time, excellent accuracy
and simple operation in all terrains.
EXHIBITIONS IN ISRAEL
The 9th
International
Laboratory
Equipment &
Biotechnology
Exhibition
February 2007
Tel-Aviv
Fairgrounds
Biomed Israel
2006 (more
information
below)
Biotechnology
& Medical
Devices
Jerusalem,
May 29-31,
2006.
The 10th
International
Exhibition for
Industrial
Processing in
Israel
February 2007
Tel-Aviv
Fairgrounds
IsraWinExpo
The 1st
International
Exhibition of
Wines
Tel Aviv
Exhibition
Center
June 13-15,
2006
AgriTech
The 16th
International
Argicultural
Exhibition, in
Tel Aviv, May
9-11, 2006.
Tomorrow's
agriculture today!
Plasto Ispack
Visit The
Gateway to
Plastics,
Rubber &
Packaging
Innovations.
The 11th
International
Exhibition.
September 1114, 2006
The 3rd
International
Jewelry
Exhibition in
Israel
June 27-282006, David
Intercontinental
Hotel, Tel-Aviv