According to the Lebanese Ministry of Industry, the value of total industrial exports declined to $1.21B by June 2017, compared to $1.3B recorded in June 2016.
In the month of June 2017, the value of total industrial exports also recorded an annual downtick of 11.67%, to stand at $199M. As such, the main exported products during the month included Machinery and electric equipment, which fell by 15.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to stand at $48.8M. Prepared foodstuffs and tobacco followed, declining by 4.28% y-o-y to reach $38M. In their turn, Products of the chemical industries recorded a yearly drop of 44.9% to stand at $25.9M.
In details, Machinery and electric equipment constituted 24.52% of total industrial exports, of which $9.26M were exported to Iraq. Prepared foodstuffs and tobacco grasped 19.1% of total exports, with $10.1M exported to Syria. Lastly, Products of the chemical industries composed 13.02% of total exports, of which $6.6M were mainly exported to the Ivory Coast.
In their turn, the top gainers among the exported products were Base metals and articles of base metals (constituting 12.61% of total industrial exports) as well as Paper, paperboard & articles thereof (6.08% of the total), each of which rose by 44.8% and 32.9% y-o-y to $25.1M and $12.1M, respectively.
Lebanon’s largest export market for industrial products in June 2017 was the United Arab Emirates, which imported a share of 11.22% of the total export value, followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia grasping the respective shares of 10.17% and 9.83% of total industrial exports.
As for imports of Machinery and Industrial Equipment, they rose by an annual 11% to stand at $22.2M in June 2017. The imports of Machinery for food industries were the highest amounting to $4.5M, of which $1.3M were solely imported from Germany. Machines used in packaging followed and totaled $2.1M, of which $1.4M were imported from France alone.
Source: Ministry of Industry