Our source obtained exclusively the Foreign Trade Report of Libya 2018-2021 issued by the Research and Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Libya, which contains an analysis of the most important indicators of foreign trade for the Libyan economy during the period of 2018-2021, with the outside world.
The data on the commodity composition of national exports included in the report showed the extent to which exports of mineral fuels, fuels and related materials acquired the largest share of total exports during the period of 2018-2021, constituting about 90.0% of total exports. It shows the lack of diversity in national exports, as a result of the weak structure of domestic production, which makes the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in oil production and prices in international markets.
Other exports recorded 10.0% of the total exports, most of which are precious metals and their products (gold) and ordinary metals (scrap).
The report showed that the countries of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are the most important importing countries from Libya for other commodities than oil, and most of their imports were concentrated in precious metals and ordinary metals (scrap).
The local market, by more than 85%, depends on foreign markets, in meeting the needs of all sectors and individuals of consumer and capital goods, such as machinery, equipment, raw materials, and intermediate goods necessary for the production process.
Geographical distribution of imports: The countries of the European Union are the main source of Libya’s imports, with their relative importance, on average, amounting to about 36.5% of the total imports during the period of 2018-2021, where the value of imports recorded 5.3, 5.2, 4.4 and 6.1 billion dollars, respectively, during that period. This is due to the geographical proximity, which plays a major role in increasing the volume of trade exchanges between Libya and the Eurozone countries, while Asian countries, the League of Arab States and other European countries made up the remaining percentages. The data indicate weak trade exchanges between Libya and African countries, Australia and New Zealand.
The report shows that the countries of Turkey, China, the UAE and Italy top the list of the most important importing countries, as the percentage of what was imported from them amounted to about 45.0% during the period 2018-2021 of the total value of Libyan imports.
