JERUSALEM, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Israeli imports from China rose by 7.5 percent in the first three quarters of 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report issued by the state's Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

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From January to September this year, Israeli imports from China, excluding diamonds, totaled 6.76 billion U.S. dollars, higher than 6.29 billion dollars in the same period in 2019.

The report also said that Israeli monthly imports from China rose by 4.7 percent, from 675 million dollars in September 2019 to 707 million dollars in September this year.

Meanwhile, Israeli exports to China decreased by almost 2 percent year on year during the first nine months of 2020 to 3.51 billion dollars.

The report said that Israel's total exports from January to September stood at 36.3 billion dollars, down by 19.2 from a year ago, while its total imports hit 50.6 billion dollars, down by 12 percent.