01Key Takeaways
- Libya imported $15.66 billion worth of goods in 2019, the most recent year with confirmed trade data available for this country.
- Mineral fuels led every import category at 13.14% ($2.06 billion), a striking figure for a country that is itself a major oil producer.
- China supplied 15.66% of Libya's imports, worth $2.45 billion, more than any other single source.
- Only a single year of confirmed data is available, so no multi-year trend or year-over-year comparison can be shown here.
02Trade Trend
03Top Import Markets (2019)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $2.5B | 15.7% |
| 2 | Turkey | $2.1B | 13.2% |
| 3 | Italy | $1.4B | 8.9% |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | $1.4B | 8.6% |
| 5 | Egypt | $830.7M | 5.3% |
| 6 | South Korea | $631.9M | 4.0% |
| 7 | Netherlands | $595.3M | 3.8% |
| 8 | Tunisia | $538.1M | 3.4% |
| 9 | Germany | $503.1M | 3.2% |
| 10 | Spain | $468.3M | 3.0% |
04Top Import Categories (2019)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $2.1B | 13.1% |
| 2 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $1.5B | 9.6% |
| 3 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $1.5B | 9.4% |
| 4 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $1.1B | 7.0% |
| 5 | Cereals | $595.4M | 3.8% |
| 6 | Tobacco and Manufactured Tobacco Substitutes | $463.0M | 3.0% |
| 7 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $460.2M | 2.9% |
| 8 | Furniture; Bedding, Mattresses, Mattress Supports, Cushions and similar Stuffed Furnishings; Lamps and Lighting Fittings, not elsewhere specified or included; Illuminated Signs, Illuminated Name-plates and the like; Prefabricated Buildings | $426.2M | 2.7% |
| 9 | Pharmaceutical Products | $390.7M | 2.5% |
| 10 | Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, Knitted or Crocheted | $353.7M | 2.3% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Why an Oil Producer Still Imports Fuel
The most recent confirmed trade data available for Libya's imports covers 2019, when the country brought in $15.66 billion worth of goods from abroad. Mineral fuels topped every import category at 13.14% of the total, worth $2.06 billion, a figure that looks paradoxical for a country that exports crude oil worth billions of dollars each year. Libya's refineries run far below their nameplate capacity of 380,000 barrels a day, with output meeting only about half of domestic consumption. Years of civil conflict damaged key facilities, including the country's largest refinery, which has sat offline since 2013, leaving Libya to import much of the gasoline and diesel its own drivers and generators actually burn.
Electrical machinery ranked second at 9.62% ($1.51 billion), and vehicles followed closely at 9.41% ($1.47 billion). Machinery contributed 7.04% ($1.10 billion), and cereals supplied 3.80% ($595.37 million), a food category reflecting how much of Libya's grain supply arrives from abroad. Tobacco added 2.96% ($463.02 million), and plastics contributed 2.94% ($460.24 million). Furniture and lighting fixtures supplied 2.72% ($426.22 million), pharmaceutical products added 2.49% ($390.66 million), and knitted apparel closed out the top ten at 2.26% ($353.67 million). Compared with Libya's export list, which is overwhelmingly a single commodity, this import mix looks like an ordinary basket of goods for a mid-sized economy rebuilding its consumer and industrial base.
China and Turkey Together Supply Nearly Three-Tenths of Libya's Imports
China supplied 15.66% of Libya's imports in 2019, worth $2.45 billion, more than any other single source. Turkey ranked second at 13.21% ($2.07 billion). Turkey exported $2 billion worth of goods to Libya in 2019, a 29% increase from 2018, and Turkish firms also held stalled infrastructure contracts in the country worth billions more, reflecting Turkey's deep and growing commercial ties with the country. Italy took third at 8.88% ($1.39 billion), a market Libya also depends on for other goods beyond the oil-sector equipment tied to Eni's operations. Together, these top three sources made up 37.76% of total import value, a far less concentrated picture than Libya's oil-dominated export list.
United Arab Emirates supplied 8.65% ($1.35 billion), and Egypt contributed 5.30% ($830.67 million), both regional neighbors with substantial cross-border trade. South Korea added 4.03% ($631.88 million), and Netherlands supplied 3.80% ($595.29 million). Tunisia contributed 3.44% ($538.05 million), reflecting close ties with Libya's other North African neighbor, and Germany added 3.21% ($503.14 million). Spain closed out the top ten at 2.99% ($468.33 million).
Why Only One Year of Data Is Available
Like Libya's export page, this import page cannot show a five-year trend or a year-over-year comparison, because 2019 is the most recent year with confirmed, complete trade figures. Civil conflict and repeated disputes over control of state institutions, including the central bank and the oil sector, have made it difficult to compile reliable, complete trade statistics for Libya in the years since. That same instability helps explain the import mix itself. A country fighting to keep its refineries running and its currency stable tends to import a wide spread of fuel, food, machinery and consumer goods rather than developing deep domestic supply chains of its own. Until more recent, complete-year data becomes available and verifiable, this 2019 snapshot remains the clearest confirmed picture of what Libya actually buys from the rest of the world.