According to the Ministry of Industry, the total value of industrial exports increased by an annual 4.43% to reach $1.26B in H1 2018. In term of imports, the total value of imports of industrial machinery and equipment during the first half of the year 2018 amounted $150.9M, recording a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 31% during the same period in 2017.
In June 2018, total industrial exports registered a yearly 6.38% decline, to stand at $186.3M. The main exported products were “base metals and articles of base metal” (constituting 17.07% of total exports) with a total of $31.79M, of which 19.50% were imported by Turkey. In fact, this category showed a 26.7% annual increase in June 2018 . In details, exports of “base metals and articles of base metal” exported to Spain went from $616M in June 2017 to $4.24M in June 2018 and as metal exports to Greece rose from $1.21M to $3.04M over the same period.
“Machinery and electrical equipment” (16.10% of total exports) came second, totaling $29.98M, of which 9.67% were imported by Egypt. However, it is worth mentioning that exports of “machinery and electrical equipment” witnessed a significant 38.6% y-o-y decrease in June 2018. In fact, the decrease came about as Lebanon’s exports of “machinery and electrical equipment” to Iraq and Kuwait dropped from $9.26M and $3.15M to $2.66M and $1.81M, respectively.
“Products of the chemical industries” (15.05% of total exports) came in the third place recording an increase of 8.40% to stand at $28.03M, with United Arab Emirates importing 17.84% of this category. “Prepared foodstuffs and tobacco” (14.64% of total exports) followed, with a total value of $27.27M and dropped by 28.3%.
Overall, the primary importers of Lebanese industrial products in June 2018 were: the UAE, KSA, and Syria with each grasping a stake of 13.7%, 7.41%, and 7.40% of total exports, respectively.
In terms of imports of industrial machinery and equipment, they climbed by a yearly 6.76%, to settle at $23.7M in June 2018. In details, imports of “machines used in packaging” (26.16% of total imports), ranked first with a total value of $6.2M whereby Lebanon imported 72.58% from Germany alone. In their turn, imports of “machines for food industry” took the second place, amounting to $2.6M, with 34.62% imported from Italy.
Main Industrial Exports in June 2017 and 2018 ($ M)
Source: Lebanese Ministry of Industry