JERUSALEM, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel's trade deficit in the first seven months of 2018 almost doubled year-on-year, reaching 51.3 billion new shekels (13.9 billion U.S. dollars), the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Monday.

Israel's imports of goods in July totalled 27 billion new shekels, 41 percent of which were raw materials.

Imports of durable goods, including furniture, electrical appliances and vehicles, decreased by 8 percent between May and July, with most of the decline in auto imports.

Israel's exports of goods totalled 15.2 billion new shekels in July, 88 percent of which were industrial exports, mining and quarrying, 11 percent diamond exports, and 1 percent agricultural exports.

Industrial exports rose by 3.2 percent between May and July, following an increase of 6.6 percent between February and April.

Export of elite technology industries, which account for 44 percent of all manufacturing exports excluding diamonds, declined by an annualized 6.8 percent between May and July, following a 1.7 percent decline between February and April.

Commodity trade in July was affected mainly by changes in the value of the new shekel against the currencies in which import and export transactions are conducted.

In July, the shekel weakened 1.1 percent against the U.S. dollar and the euro.