During the 1980s, Syria focused on increasing its trade with socialist nations. However, when the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Syria increased trade with European nations. In 2000, the EU countries took 66% of exports and supplied 31% of imports, while countries of the Middle East took 28% of exports and supplied 14% of imports. Syria's main export commodities are crude petroleum (69%) and refined petroleum products (7.0%). Other exports include cotton (4.3%), vegetables (2.9%), garments (2.8%), and fruits and nuts (2.0%).
In 2000 Syria's imports were distributed among the following categories:
Consumer goods | 2.7% |
Food | 12.9% |
Fuels | 3.7% |
Industrial supplies | 51.7% |
Machinery | 14.0% |
Transportation | 7.5% |
Other | 7.5% |
Principal trading partners in 2000 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:
COUNTRY | EXPORTS | IMPORTS | BALANCE |
Italy | 1,484 | 237 | 1,247 |
France | 1,045 | 180 | 865 |
Turkey | 482 | 191 | 291 |
Saudi Arabia | 272 | 160 | 112 |
Lebanon | 189 | n.a. | n.a. |
Spain | 180 | 83 | 97 |
Germany | 137 | 258 | -121 |
United States | 49 | 258 | -209 |
Ukraine | n.a. | 236 | n.a. |
China (inc. Hong Kong) | n.a. | 204 | n.a. |
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