Lebanon’s trade deficit for the first month of 2019 stood at $1.17B, narrowing from the $1.42B registered in the same month last year. Total imports declined by 17.63% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $1.40B and exports slumped by 16.83% y-o-y to $235.71M.
The top imported goods to Lebanon were “Mineral products” with a share of 18.79%, followed by 13.06% for “Machinery and electrical instruments” and 12.04% for “Products of the chemical and allied industries”.
The value of imported “Mineral products” decreased by 4.50% y-o-y to $263.9M noting that their imported volume grew yearly by 10.04%. Moreover, the value of “Machinery and electrical” and “Products of the chemical and allied industries” declined yearly by 24.41% and 12.65% to $183.38M and $169.17M, respectively.
In January, the top three import destinations were China, Italy, and Greece with shares of 10.94%, 7.65% and 7.08%, respectively.
As for exports, the top exported products from Lebanon were “Pearls precious stones and metals” with a share of 33.32% of the total followed by shares of 11.52% for “Prepared foodstuffs; beverages, tobacco” and 10.46% for “products of the chemical or allied industries”.
In details, the value of “Pearls, precious stones and metals” shrunk in January 2019 to stand at $78.55M, compared to $110.67M in January 2018. The value of “Prepared foodstuffs; beverages, tobacco” rose by 3.67% to $27.16M, and the value of “products of the chemical or allied industries” dropped by a yearly 10.34% to $24.65M.
In January, the top three export destinations were UAE with 17%, Switzerland with 11.97%, followed by the South Africa with a share of 7.99%.
Trade Deficit in January ($B)
Source: Lebanese Customs