According to the Lebanese Ministry of Industry, the value of industrial exports rose by 1.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) from $216.3 million in December 2016 to $219.6 million in December 2017.
For the totality of 2017, the value of industrial exports declined by 2% to $2.47 billion compared to $2.53 billion in 2016.
In December 2017, the main exported products were “machinery and electrical equipment” with a total value of $42.5 million down from $45.2 million in December 2016. The main export market for “machinery and electrical equipment” was Libya, which accounted for $6 million of the total exports.
Exports of “prepared foodstuffs and tobacco” came in second position with a total value of $41.6 million in December 2017, down from $41.56 million in December 2016. The largest export market for this category remained Saudi Arabia with exports worth $5.6 million in December 2017.
As for the exports of “base metals and articles of base metal”, they amounted to $35.7 million in December 2017, up from $28.9 million in December 2016, an increase that helped boost the overall value of industrial exports. The biggest export market in this category was Turkey with an exports’ value of $12.1 million.
Other smaller categories of industrial exports were also responsible for the uptick in total industrial exports; the exports of plastics, rubber and articles thereof saw their value increase by $3.84 million from $11.02 million in December 2016 to $14.86 million in December 2017. Moreover, the value of exports of “Pearls, Precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals and articles thereof” rose by $2.08 million to $12.18 million in December 2017.
With regards to imports of industrial machinery and equipment, they reached $23.2 million in December 2017 up from $17.9 million during the same month in 2016.
Imports of machines for food industry ranked first with a value of $4.5 million in December 2017 mainly coming from Germany which accounted for $1.1 million of the total. Imports of machines used in packaging amounted to $3.4 million and mainly came from Italy which exported $2.5 million worth of packaging machines to Lebanon in December 2017.
Breakdown of Industrial Exports (in millions of USD)
| Goods | Dec-16 | Dec-17 | Variation 2016/2017 | Variation in % 2016/2017 |
| Animal products | 0.49 | 0.51 | 0.02 | 3.90% |
| Vegetable products | 4.44 | 5.78 | 1.34 | 30.10% |
| Fats and edible fats and oils | 4.5 | 4.32 | -0.17 | -3.90% |
| Prepared foodstuffs and tobacco | 41.56 | 41.61 | 0.06 | 0.10% |
| Mineral products | 0.45 | 0.68 | 0.23 | 51.70% |
| Products of the chemical industries | 33.71 | 30.14 | -3.57 | -10.60% |
| Plastics and rubber and articles thereof | 11.02 | 14.86 | 3.84 | 34.80% |
| Raw hides and skins, leather, furskins and articles thereof | 0.83 | 0.95 | 0.12 | 13.90% |
| Wood and articles of wood | 1.5 | 0.76 | -0.74 | -49.10% |
| Paper and paperboard and articles thereof | 13.38 | 10.88 | -2.5 | -18.70% |
| Textiles and textile articles | 7.59 | 5.38 | -2.21 | -29.10% |
| Footwear, headgear, prepared feather | 1.26 | 0.65 | -0.61 | -48.30% |
| Articles of stone, plaster, cement; glass and glassware | 1.73 | 1.91 | 0.18 | 10.30% |
| Pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals and articles thereof (Excluding unworked diamonds, silver and gold Ingots) | 10.11 | 12.18 | 2.08 | 20.50% |
| Base metals and articles of base metal | 28.88 | 35.67 | 6.78 | 23.50% |
| Machinery and electrical equipment | 45.23 | 42.5 | -2.73 | -6.00% |
| Transport equipment | 1.61 | 1.22 | -0.39 | -24.20% |
| Optical, measuring, medical, and musical instruments; clocks and watches | 1.02 | 1.36 | 0.34 | 33.70% |
| Arms and ammunition | 0.01 | 0 | -0.01 | -100.00% |
| Miscellaneous manufactured articles | 6.96 | 8.19 | 1.23 | 17.60% |
| Total | 216.28 | 219.56 | 3.28 | 1.50% |
Source: Ministry of Industry