Lebanon’s Foreign Trade in 2012 : Exports at USD 44 Billion, Imports at USD 21.2 Billion and Trade Deficit at USD 16.8 Billion
The goods and products imported into Lebanon stood in 2012 at USD 21.279 billion, while exports were as modest as USD 4.483 billion, i.e. a deficit of USD 16.797 billion. The discrepancy has been growing with years as illustrated in the following Table 1. Some attribute the rise in the size of imports by 31% compared to 2009, meaning an average of 10.3% per year, to the growing needs dictated by the presence of Syrian refugees, for the growth in imports was at lower rates before 2010, except in 2004 and 2008.
Exports’ growth rates stood at 189% as opposed to 197% for imports during the past ten years.
|
Imports, exports and trade deficit between 2003 and 2012 |
Table 1 |
|||||
|
Year |
Value of imports (USD billion) |
Growth rate of imports (%) |
Value of exports (USD billion) |
Growth rate of exports (%) |
Deficit in trade balance |
Deficit (%) |
|
2003 |
7.168 |
- |
1.524 |
- |
5.644 |
370 |
|
2004 |
9.397 |
31 |
1.747 |
14.6 |
7.650 |
438 |
|
2005 |
9.340 |
0.6 |
1.880 |
7.6 |
7.460 |
397 |
|
2006 |
9.379 |
0.4 |
2.282 |
21.4 |
7.097 |
311 |
|
2007 |
11.815 |
26 |
2.815 |
23.3 |
9.000 |
320 |
|
2008 |
16.136 |
36.5 |
3.478 |
23.6 |
12.658 |
364 |
|
2009 |
16.241 |
0.6 |
3.484 |
0.1 |
12.757 |
366 |
|
2010 |
17.963 |
10.6 |
4.252 |
22 |
13.711 |
322 |
|
2011 |
20.158 |
12.2 |
4.265 |
0.3 |
15.893 |
373 |
|
2012 |
21.279 |
5.5 |
4.403 |
3.2 |
16.797 |
382 |
Source: General Directorate of Customs
Trade Partners
The US ranks as Lebanon’s top trade partner with goods and products imported at around USD 2.3 billion. Italy and China rank second and third respectively. Around 74% of Lebanon’s imports come from the 20 countries listed in the table below:
|
20 largest sources of imported goods in 2012 |
Table 2 |
|
|
Country |
Values of goods and products imported by Lebanon (USD million) |
|
|
US |
2,375 |
|
|
Italy |
1,830 |
|
|
China |
1,773 |
|
|
France |
1,540 |
|
|
Germany |
1,202 |
|
|
Turkey |
965 |
|
|
Greece |
891 |
|
|
Egypt |
840 |
|
|
Britain |
518 |
|
|
Switzerland |
508 |
|
|
Spain |
426 |
|
|
Russia |
423 |
|
|
Saudi |
423 |
|
|
Ukraine |
423 |
|
|
UAE |
416 |
|
|
Holland |
406 |
|
|
India |
348 |
|
|
Japan |
363 |
|
Source: General Directorate of Customs
South Africa is the top market for Lebanese products, followed by Switzerland. 82% of Lebanon’s exports are centered in 20 countries and the following Table 3 illustrates the top 20 foreign markets to which Lebanese commodities were shipped in 2012.
|
20 largest markets for exported goods in 2012 |
Table 3 |
|
|
Country |
Values of goods and products exported by Lebanon (USD million) |
|
|
South Africa |
864 |
|
|
Switzerland |
547 |
|
|
KSA |
359 |
|
|
UAE |
352 |
|
|
Syria |
294 |
|
|
Iraq |
211 |
|
|
Turkey |
157 |
|
|
Jordan |
142 |
|
|
Belgium |
111 |
|
|
Egypt |
88 |
|
|
Qatar |
85 |
|
|
Kuwait |
68 |
|
|
USA |
64 |
|
|
France |
60 |
|
|
Korea |
57 |
|
|
Angola |
55 |
|
|
Congo |
45 |
|
|
Britain |
44 |
|
|
Nigeria |
43 |
|
|
Germany |
34 |
|
Source: General Directorate of Customs
Between 2005 and 2010, Italy was Lebanon’s top source of imports, but the US overshadowed it and ranked first starting 2006. Regarding exports, the KSA was the major destination for Lebanese commodities before 2002 until the UAE emerged and topped the list in 2003. Table 4 illustrates the top three countries with whom Lebanon have traded goods by means of importation or exportation between 2003 and 2012.
|
Lebanon’s top 3 trade partners (2003-2012) |
Table 4 |
||
|
Year |
Top 3 import sources |
Top 3 export destinations |
|
|
2003 |
|
|
|
|
2004 |
|
|
|
|
2005 |
|
|
|
|
2006 |
|
|
|
|
2007 |
|
|
|
|
2008 |
|
|
|
|
2009 |
|
|
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
|
|
2012 |
|
|
|
Source: General Directorate of Customs
Deficit, surplus, equilibrium
The balance between Lebanon and its trade partners differs depending on the country, recording surplus with a few countries and sharp deficit with the majority. The following table 5 illustrates the state of Lebanon’s trade balance with some of its trade partners.
|
State of trade balance in 2012 |
Table 5 |
||
|
Country |
Value of imports (USD million) |
Value of exports (USD million) |
State of trade balance |
|
USA |
1.990 |
65 |
-1.925 |
|
Italy |
1.868 |
36 |
-1.832 |
|
China |
1.624 |
43 |
-1.581 |
|
France |
1.510 |
57 |
-1.453 |
|
Germany |
1.140 |
45 |
-1.095 |
|
Egypt |
942 |
67 |
-875 |
|
Turkey |
840 |
276 |
-564 |
|
Russia |
514 |
13 |
-501 |
|
Switzerland |
994 |
514 |
-480 |
|
Britain |
521 |
61 |
-460 |
|
Ukraine |
385 |
1 |
-384 |
|
Japan |
404 |
22 |
-382 |
|
Brazil |
304 |
2 |
-302 |
|
UAE |
594 |
322 |
-272 |
|
Kuwait |
302 |
77 |
-225 |
|
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
531 |
308 |
-223 |
|
Belgium |
250 |
131 |
-119 |
|
Syria |
310 |
215 |
-95 |
|
Iran |
42 |
13 |
-29 |
|
Sudan |
23 |
26 |
-3 |
|
South Africa |
9 |
673 |
+664 |
|
Iraq |
4 |
179 |
+193 |
|
Angola |
0 |
50 |
+50 |
|
Qatar |
33 |
80 |
+47 |
|
Oman |
12 |
13 |
+1 |
Source: General Directorate of Customs
Leave A Comment