Lebanese trade patterns are in for further changes in 2007, but it’s not armed conflict that will force alternative trade routes on the country’s many importing merchants and exporting manufacturers. Change will come because of world market realities. Overall, according to the numbers currently available from Lebanese customs, the nation’s exports last year developed handsomely despite war, blockades and overall strains on GDP. In the first 11 months of 2006, the official statistics counted an export value of nearly $2.1 billion, driven by industrial exports and 24.7% better than in the same period a year earlier. Lebanon’s outbound trade remained concentrated within the region, with four out of the five top destinations Middle Eastern countries. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf, and Syria and Iraq in the Levant together received 27.9% of Lebanon’s exports, or $579 million in goods. Switzerland, the Lebanese destination for jewelry and
