Employees of the Pharmaline factory in Nahr Ibrahim, Lebanon, on March 11, 2024. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The increasingly realistic possibility of economic reforms in Lebanon makes the lack of a centralized and up-to-date database of its manufacturers an especially pressing hinderance to determining the industrial sector's size and capabilities.
On March 18, the "Directory of Lebanese Exports and Industries" was published by an unnamed company financed by the private sector. The directory is an attempt at jumpstarting such a database and so far includes 18,542 factories producing 1,656 types of goods, 1,179 of which are exported by Lebanon abroad. An accompanying statement was published by the state-run National News Agency.
According to the directory's information:
• The number of factories approved by the Ministry of Industry stands at 5,358, representing 61 percent of the 8,771 factories listed in the directory, and 28.8 percent of the total industries.
• The Association of Lebanese Industrialists (AIL) has 831 members, or 9.5 percent of the 8,771 factories listed in the directory, 16 percent of the 5,358 factories approved by the Ministry of Industry, and 4.31 percent of the total number of factories in Lebanon.
• 64 percent of the total Lebanese factories are located in Mount Lebanon and Beirut, with 9,556 factories (51.53 percent of the total) and 2,319 factories (12.5 percent) respectively.
• Additionally, 16.41 percent of all Lebanese factories are located in the governorates of South Lebanon and the Nabatieh, 10.88 percent in North Lebanon and Akkar governorates, and 8.65 percent in the governorate of Bekaa.
The directory's compilers relied on factories registered with various official bodies up until the end of 2024 to count factories. Among the 18,542 facilities in Lebanon in 2024, 8,771 were subjected to a field census by the company itself using specific forms.
Contested figures
According to the company's director, Farès Saad, the goal of the project was to create a complete map of factories that would allow an analysis of the sector's geographical distribution and the recent developments in industrial production by region — with the aim of creating new industrial zones in the country and opening up cities to investments both domestically and from abroad.
The directory also lists factories established in the last 30 years which have not yet obtained a license from the Ministry of Industry. The company that compiled the list believes Lebanon's existing manufacturers have "the potential to fill the trade deficit of Lebanon."
However, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists has challenged its total count of over 18,000 factories in the country. "It is way too high, unless it includes all small craftsmen, whose activity does not meet the criteria for obtaining an industrial license," says the association's president Selim Zeeny. According to Zeeny, the sector employs around 250,000 people — a number based on employees registered with the National Social Security Fund. According to these figures, each company would have an average of 13 employees.
The authors of the directory, who did not respond to L'Orient Today's request for comment, appear to have based their count on factories that have a commercial register "that allows them to obtain the necessary authorizations."
Zeeny also calls for taking into account illegal companies, whom he distinguishes into two groups: those simply operating without a license and those who source or sell their goods through smuggling.
Although some of the directory data coincide or are close to those of the AIL and the Ministry of Industry, others differ significantly. The General Directorate of the Ministry estimates fewer than 7,000 registered industrialists, while the AIL has between 800 and 900 members.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the ministry's register also includes some duplicates between industrial establishment creation licenses and those of operation, which may have been submitted by the same company for the same industry.