That calculated dollar amount results from a -44.1% drop from five years earlier in 2020 when Lebanese exports were worth $3.81 billion.
Year over year, the value of overall exports from Lebanon plunged -53.4% compared to $4.56 billion starting from 2023.
Lebanon’s top 5 most valuable exports are jewelry, iron or steel scrap, unwrought gold, natural calcium phosphates then copper waste and scrap. That subset of leading products represents almost a third (29.5%) of the total revenues for all Lebanese exported goods in 2024.
Lebanon’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 63.3% of products exported from Lebanon was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (22.2% of the Lebanese total), Türkiye (7.9%), Iraq (5.2%), Egypt (5%), United States of America (4.7%), Switzerland (3.3%), France (2.82%), Syrian Arab Republic (2.76%), Cyprus (2.45%), Qatar (2.44%), Jordan (2.3%) and Greece (2.29%).
From a continental perspective, 53.6% of Lebanon’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 20.6% was sold to importers based in Europe. Lebanon shipped another 18.7% worth of goods to buyers in Africa.
Smaller percentages went to customers in North America (5.9%), Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.5%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Lebanon’s population of 5.4 million people, its total $2.13 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $400 for every resident in the Middle Eastern nation. That dollar average mirrors the average $400 per capita for 2023.
Lebanon’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Lebanese global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Lebanon.
- Gems, precious metals: US$284.5 million (13.4% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $163.6 million (7.7%)
- Iron, steel: $151.3 million (7.1%)
- Copper: $117.4 million (5.5%)
- Fruits, nuts: $113.5 million (5.3%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $109.7 million (5.2%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $108.7 million (5.1%)
- Fertilizers: $82 million (3.9%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $75.6 million (3.6%)
- Lead: $59.6 million (2.8%)
Lebanon’s top 10 exports generated almost three-fifths (59.5%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Salt, sulphur, stone and cement was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 5,264% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales were fertilizers via a 107.9% advance.
Lebanon’s shipments of copper posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 80.1%.
The leading decliner among Lebanon’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals recording a -63.8% year-over-year drop, in part due to lower revenues from exported gold.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, jewelry (7.3% of Lebanon’s global total) represent the most valuable Lebanese export product for 2024. In second place was iron or steel scrap (7%) trailed by unwrought gold (5.5%), natural calcium phosphates (4.9%), copper waste or scrap (4.8%), electric generating sets or converters (3.5%), phosphatic fertilizers (2.9%), olive oil (also 2.9%), unwrought lead (2.8%) then miscellaneous preserved fruits (2.3%).
Products Responsible for Lebanon’s Best Trade Surpluses
Itemized below are categories of Lebanese exported products that generated positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Lead: US$54.6 million (Down by -2.1% since 2023)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $47.6 million (Down by -8.7%)
- Fertilizers: $38.8 million (Reversing a -$3.6 million deficit)
- Copper: $36.7 million (Up by 755.3%)
- Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $25.1 million (Up by 1,175%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $15.8 million (Reversing a -$76.6 million deficit)
- Books, newspapers, pictures: $13.7 million (Reversing a -$35.9 million deficit)
- Inorganic chemicals: $12.5 million (Up by 25.9%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $3.4 million (Up by 86.8%)
- Ships, boats: $2 million (Reversing a -$3.3 million deficit)
Lebanon has notably positive net exports in the international trade of lead. In turn, these cashflows indicate Lebanon’s strong competitive advantages under the lead product category.
Products Causing Lebanon’s Largest Trade Deficits
Lebanon incurred an overall -US$11.7 billion product trade deficit for 2024. That estimated deficit reflects a -14% reduction from -$13.6 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Lebanon that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Lebanon’s goods trail Lebanese importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.7 billion (Down by -41.2% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$924.4 million (Up by 99%)
- Machinery including computers: -$674.1 million (Up by 17.3%)
- Gems, precious metals: -$668.7 million (Down by -61.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$488.1 million (Down by -15.4%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$481.2 million (Up by 1.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$403.1 million (Up by 17.4%)
- Cereals: -$351.6 million (Down by -9.2%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$300.7 million (Up by 125.3%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$260.4 million (Up by 24.2%)
Lebanon has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil category, notably for refined petroleum oils, petroleum gases and petroleum coke.
Lebanese Export Companies
Two regional banks headquartered in Lebanon rank among Forbes Global 2000, namely Bank Audi and Blom Bank.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Lebanon. Selected examples are shown below.
- Bonjus (juice)
- Château Musar (winery)
- IXSIR wine (winery)
- Massaya (winery, distillery)
- Middle East Airlines (airliner)
- Tabbah (jewelry)
In macroeconomic terms, Lebanon’s total exported goods represent 3.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($63.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.4% ratio for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to an estimated 2.5% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Lebanon’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe and estimated amounts.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Lebanon’s unemployment rate averaged 11.54% for 2023, down from 11.56% one year earlier according to Statista.
Lebanon’s capital city is Beirut, nicknamed “Paris of the East”.
See also Grapes Exports by Country, Gold Exports by Country Plus Average Prices, Diamond Exports by Country and UAE’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook report on Middle East: Lebanon. Accessed on October 18, 2025
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Lebanon. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Forbes 2024 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Foreign Trade , United States Census Bureau. Accessed on October 18, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 18, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Wikipedia, Lebanon. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Lebanon. Accessed on October 18, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 18, 2025