24 May 2007

BEIRUT: Lebanon's imports of industrial machinery in the first three months of 2007 rose by some 31.8 percent to $39.3 million, according to the Industry Ministry. The ministry believes factories are bracing for more demands for their products in the coming few months and for this reason they have been ordering new machinery from abroad.

Lebanon's industrial exports have been rising this year with special orders from Europe and some Arab countries.

The industrial sector suffered heavy losses during last summer's war as dozens of factories were either totally destroyed or partially damaged.

The total cost of the war on the industrial sector is estimated at more than $220 million.

The Lebanese government has promised to help some of the damaged factories through soft loans from local commercial banks.

The industrialists have been lobbying hard to pressure the government to use part of the money it received from the donor states to help rebuild some of the damaged factories.

Industrial exports have been on the rise since Lebanon signed the Euro-Mediterranean partnership agreement over five years ago.

Lebanon exports agro-food products, plastic, wine, jewelry and other items.

According to the ministry, imports of industrial machinery, an indicator of investment made in the industrial sector, totaled $12.8 million in the month of March alone, up by 11.6 percent from the same period of 2006.

"This significant rise is mostly attributed to an important year-on-year increase in imports of industrial machinery in January 2007, as the registered number was almost double that recorded in January 2006," the Bank Audi Saradar weekly bulletin said.

It added that investment in industrial activity resumed its somewhat ordinary pace in the following two months with a minor decrease in February 2007.

The distribution of industrial machinery by origin for the first quarter of 2007 shows that Germany was the largest exporter to Lebanon with $11 million worth of exports, followed by Italy, China, the United States, Switzerland and France. - The Daily Star