29 June 2017

BEIRUT: Lebanese industrialists are still struggling to increase exports despite the governments plan to ship goods by sea at affordable rates.

The continuous closure of the borders between Lebanon and Syria is one of the reasons behind the drop in industrial exports in the first quarter of 2017.

According to the Industry Ministry, industrial exports in the first three months of this year reached $596.6 million compared to $633.9 million in the same period of 2016, a drop of 5.9 percent.

In addition, the results in the first quarter of this year were much worse than the same period of 2015 when industrial exports reached $727.2 million.

Total industrial exports during the month of March for the current year amounted to $223.9 million, compared to $211.6 million in the month of March 2016, and to $246.5 million in the month of March 2015.

Exports of machinery, electrical appliances and equipment during the month of March of 2017 ranked first, with a value of $43.2 million.

Iraq topped the list of importers of these products, with a total value of $6.9 million.

The second-most exported items were food and tobacco products worth $42.5 million.

Syria was the largest recipient of these goods, with a total value of $6.2 million.

The third-most exported products in March of this year were ordinary metals and their products, with a total value of $30.5 million.

Turkey topped the list of importers of this product, importing $10.3 million.

Arab countries represented the main market for Lebanese industrial exports, with exports worth $128 million in the month of March 2017, accounting for 57.2 percent of total industrial exports.

European countries ranked second with 15.5 percent, followed by non-Arab African countries with 10.9 percent.

Non-Arab Asian countries followed, with 10.1 percent.

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