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Lebanon may resort to trade barriers to safeguard its industry from external dumping
7-6-2017
Following continuous appeals to protect made-in-Lebanon goods from fierce foreign competition and from market dumping, and the repeated warnings Minister of Industry Hussein Haj Hassan about imbalances in world trade, the minister of economy and trade, Raed Khoury announced yesterday the completion of a working plan on the protection of 17 local products to this end. Khoury was speaking after a meeting with Haj Hassan who repeatedly cautioned against a defective imbalanced trade with a number of countries. The list prepared by the Lebanese Industrialists Association (LIA), and at the request of the Industry ministry, reportedly comprises the following items or sectors: iron, burghol, sugar, pasta, dairies and cheeses, biscuits, flour, marble and granite, corn flakes, aluminum profiles, duck liver, shotgun shells, detergents, sanitary, chicken, paper and tissue paper including egg crates, test liner paper and cardboard. To note, that LIA is currently compiling more files for additional industries, including furniture, footwear and clothing and protection glass. Discussions, Khoury said, also touched on ways to increase exports to Europe, while he disclosed that a letter has been sent two weeks ago to the European Union for this purpose. The meeting has also identified a list of specific basic products that need to be imported by the EU, Khoury added. The goods were chosen based on their competitive advantage internally, the minister stated, pointing out that protection will be realized through several measures, including the imposition or lifting of tariffs on similar goods imported by Lebanon, and the banning import from specific countries that continue to flood the domestic market with products. Meanwhile, the deficit in the trade balance continues to deepen. According to Customs Supreme Council figures, the deficit has soared to reach USD 5.40 billion during the first four months of 2017, up from USD 5.36 billion during the same period of the earlier year. The Customs attributed the rise to an increase by USD 133 million on an annual basis in the import bill to USD 6.36 billion, against an increase in exports of only USD 95 million to a gross of USD 965 million. (Annahar, Al Diyar and Al Mustaqbal 5 and 7 June , 2017)
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