Jerusalem, 1 February, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Ahead of Tu B’Shevat, the jewish new year for the tress (a minor holiday) which began Sunday night, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics published the data on orchard areas (reported), fresh fruit production in Israel, and dried fruit imports. The data shows declines in the rate of fruits produced, due to a number of reasons such as the labor shortage in agriculture due to the closure of the Palestinian areas during the war in Gaza out of security concerns.

The estimated area of new fruit tree plantings in 2023/24 amounted to 22,463,000 square meters, compared to 33,229,000 square meters in 2022/23, and compared to 4,335,000 square meters in 2021/22, which was a Shmita year, a sabbatical year in which Jewish law requires that the land not be farmed – except under special conditions – and so less produce is harvested.

In 2023/24, there was a 32.4% decrease in total plantation area. A significant decrease was recorded in grape area – a decrease of approximately 58.8%. There was also a significant decrease of 38.2% in avocado plantings.

The area of new forest tree plantings in 2024/25 amounted to 4,858 dunams, an increase of 8.8% compared to the previous year, when the planting area was 4,465 dunams.

In 2025, there was a 3.4% decrease in total plantation output compared to the previous year.

Citrus fruit production in 2024/25 was 31.7% of total orchard production – approximately 422 thousand tons, a decrease of 3.0% compared to 2014.

In 2025, there were increases in the prices of dried fruits and nuts, compared to 2024. Prices of nuts for cracking increased by 2.7%, nuts and pistachios by 5.1%, dried fruits by 4.5%, peanuts by 3.3%, and almonds by 3.8%.

The United States is the country of origin from which most imports of other nuts came. Vietnam is the country of origin from which most imports of coconuts, Brazil nuts and cashews came. Italy is the country of origin from which most imports of fresh apples, pears and quinces came.

Gil Tanenbaum

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