A sovereign state in Western Asia bordered by Syria and Israel, the Lebanese Republic shipped US$2.73 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2025.

That calculated dollar amount results from a -35.5% drop from five years earlier in 2021 when Lebanese exports were worth $4.23 billion.

Year over year, the value of overall exports from Lebanon plunged -36.4% starting from $4.29 billion in 2024.

Lebanon’s top 5 most valuable exports are unwrought gold, iron or steel scrap, copper waste and scrap, unwrought lead and electrical converters or power units. That subset of leading products represents almost half (49%) of the total revenues for all Lebanese exported goods in 2025.

Lebanon’s Major Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data shows that 60.4% of products exported from Lebanon was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (24.1% of the Lebanese total), United States (5.3%), Egypt (5.0%), Iraq (4.8%), Türkiye (4.6%), Switzerland (2.9%), Jordan (2.5%), Syria (2.36%), France (2.36%), Greece (2.19%), South Korea (2.17%) and Qatar (2.09%).

From a continental perspective, 52.4% of Lebanon’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 19.9% was sold to importers based in Europe. Lebanon shipped another 19.3% worth of goods to buyers in Africa.

Smaller percentages went to customers in North America (7.1%), Latin America (0.65%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.62%) led by Australia and New Zealand.

Given Lebanon’s population of 5.4 million people, its total US$2.73 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $500 for every resident in the Middle Eastern nation. That dollar average exceeds the average $400 per capita for 2024.

Lebanon’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Lebanese global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Lebanon.

1. Gems, precious metals: US$889.7 million (32.6% of total exports)
2. Iron, steel: $215 million (7.9%)
3. Electrical machinery, equipment: $175.2 million (6.4%)
4. Copper: $158.8 million (5.8%)
5. Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $101.1 million (3.7%)
6. Lead: $93.1 million (3.4%)
7. Aluminum: $90.8 million (3.3%)
8. Fertilizers: $83.2 million (3%)
9. Fruits, nuts: $75.2 million (2.8%)
10. Inorganic chemicals: $58.8 million (2.2%)

Lebanon’s top 10 exports generated approaching three-quarters (71.1%) of the overall value of its global shipments.

Lead represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 93.9% from 2024 to 2025.

In second place for improving export sales were the metals iron, steel via a 78.7% advance.

Lebanon’s shipments of copper posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 54.7%.

The leading decliner among Lebanon’s top 10 export categories was electrical machinery and equipment thanks to a -53.7% year-over-year drop.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, unwrought gold (29.6% of Lebanon’s global total) represent the most valuable Lebanese export product for 2025. In second place was iron or steel scrap (7.8%) trailed by copper waste or scrap (5.2%), unwrought lead (3.4%), electric converters or power units (3%), phosphatic fertilizers (2.9%), aluminum waste or scrap (2.4%), phosphoric or polyphosphoric acids (2.1%), miscellaneous preserved fruits (1.8%) then jewelry (1.7%).

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.

1. Lead: US$92.8 million (Up by 146.5% since 2024)
2. Copper: $79.6 million (Up by 145.4%)
3. Fertilizers: $32.5 million (Up by 87.2%)
4. Inorganic chemicals: $28.9 million (Up by 25.6%)
5. Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $25.6 million (Up by 2975.1%)
6. Collector items, art, antiques: $16.5 million (Reversing a -$3.6 million deficit)
7. Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $15.1 million (Down by -66.4%)
8. Books, newspapers, pictures: $10.5 million (Up by 16.7%)
9. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $328,000 (Down by -82.2%)

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$14.1 billion product trade deficit for 2025. That estimated deficit reflects an 8.4% expansion from -$13 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2024.

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.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.8 billion (Down by -31.7% since 2024)
2. Vehicles: -$1.3 billion (Reversing a $42.7 million surplus)
3. Machinery including computers: -$1 billion (Up by 92.8%)
4. Gems, precious metals: -$905.7 million (Down by -52.9%)
5. Pharmaceuticals: -$588.8 million (Down by -14.5%)
6. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$584.8 million (Up by 80.1%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: -$510.8 million (Up by 36.7%)
8. Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$372.5 million (Up by 143.7%)
9. Dairy, eggs, honey: -$328.8 million (Up by 23.8%)
10. Cereals: -$314.1 million (Down by -8.2%)

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 3.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($79 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.5% ratio for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to an estimated 3.4% for 2024. 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.

Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Lebanon’s unemployment rate averaged 11.6% for 2024, up from 11.57% one year earlier according to the Geo Factbook.

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 July 13, 2026

FlagPictures.org, Flag of Lebanon. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Forbes 2025 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Foreign Trade , United States Census Bureau. Accessed on July 13, 2026

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 13, 2026

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Wikipedia, Lebanon. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Lebanon. Accessed on July 13, 2026

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 13, 2026