Lebanon’s Trade Deficit Shrinks to $1.09B in January

Lebanon’s trade deficit shrank by 33.06% year -on-year (y-o-y) in January 2015 to stand at $1.09B due to an increase in overall exports of 2.55% from January 2014 and a decline in imports by 28.42%.

Total imports, in January, summed up to $1.34B compared to $1.87B in the same period last year. In more details, the three major product categories that were imported to Lebanon in January were mineral products (16.27% share of total imports), products of the chemical or allied industries  (11.82% share of total imports) and machinery and electrical instruments (11.22% share of total imports). The y-o-y change in imported mineral products displayed a massive fall of 67.17%. The plunge in mineral imports went hand in hand with the 56.78% drop in the price of oil since January 2014, reaching $45.47 in January 2015, the lowest in 5 years. Furthermore, the main drop in the quantity of mineral imports was the decline in the volume of imported gas fuels, which was likely due to bad weather conditions preventing vessels from docking at Port of Beirut during January. In addition, “products of the chemical or allied industries” and “machinery and electrical instruments “declined by respective 11.50% and 12.63% y-o-y. Worth mentioning that the three major countries that Lebanon imports products from were China, Italy and Germany with corresponding weights of 12.89%, 9.60% and 5.92%.

In parallel, total exports rose yearly by 2.55% to $250.02M in January, illustrating the improved global demand on Lebanese products. Pearls, precious stones and metals, constituting 19.51% share of total exports, upturned by 5.66% but this rise was partially offset by the 16.56% detraction of exported prepared foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco (13.86% shares of total exports). Moreover, exports of machinery and electrical instruments (11.30% share of total exports) declined by a yearly 5.42% in January. Notably, the three major destinations of Lebanese exports were the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Syria with respective weights of 13.30%, 10.90% and 8.01%.

Lebanon Imports/Exports in January (in $B)

Lebanon’s Trade Deficit Shrinks to $1.09B in January

Source: Customs

 

 

 

 

 

 

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