Israeli Companies Keep Trading With Turkey Despite Boycott and Rising Costs

Despite Turkey’s boycott of Israel, several Israeli companies are still doing business there by using subsidiaries, local manufacturers, and indirect shipping routes. The article says Turkey has shifted in three years from a major trade partner to a market marked by political, logistical, and security risk. It also notes that Israel’s security agencies said that over the past year dozens of attacks directed by Hamas operatives from Turkey were thwarted.

Teva continues operating in Turkey through commercial activity and manufacturing agreements with local producers for generic and specialty medicines. ICL runs production, sales, and logistics sites there and sees Turkey as an important operating base because of access to ports and proximity to Europe. Netafim, owned by Mexico’s Orbia, has a Turkish site, while Delta Galil has long used Turkey as a key textile manufacturing hub. The Gaon Group works through an exclusive distribution deal with Baylan, a Turkish water-meter maker, but says export restrictions on the Turkish side could affect supply to Israel.

Other firms have shifted to more complicated import channels. Ralco Agencies says it still brings in Bloomberg and Grundig products from Turkey regularly, but not directly from the country, which raises freight costs and changes payment terms. Afcon also faces delays and higher shipping costs for equipment originating in Turkey.

By contrast, Hamat is scaling back. Its board decided to stop in-house production at its MCP factory in Turkey, is now considering selling the factory, land, and equipment, and plans to move to alternative production. The company estimates the cost of terminating workers there at about 1.7 million shekels.

Trade data show imports have fallen sharply even though they have not disappeared. In January and February 2026, Israeli imports from Turkey totaled $176.1 million, up about 22 percent from the same period a year earlier, but far below pre-boycott levels. Full-year imports were $924 million in 2025, down from about $2.02 billion in 2024. Israeli exports to Turkey nearly vanished, with no exports recorded in January and February 2026, and only $10.9 million in all of 2025, compared with $598.6 million in 2024.