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The civil war that raged from 1990 to 1997 and the significant new fighting since 2001 has had a disastrous effect on the Liberian economy, with many business people fleeing the country as rebels gained control of vast quantities of gold, diamonds, natural rubber, and tropical hardwoods. Until the 1950s, Liberia's economy was almost totally dependent upon subsistence farming and the production of rubber. The American-owned Firestone plantation was the country's largest employer and held a concession on some one million acres (404,700 hectares) of land. With the discovery of high-grade iron ore, first at Bomi Hills, and then at Bong and Nimba, the production and export of minerals became the country's major cash-earning economic activity. Gold, diamonds, barite, and kyanite are also mined. Mineral processing plants are located near Buchanan and Bong.
Some three quarters of the population remain in the agricultural sector, which produces coffee, cocoa, rice, cassava, palm oil, sugarcane, yams, and okra. Much rice, the main staple, is imported, but efforts have been made to develop intensive rice production and to establish fish farms. Much of the country's industry is concentrated around Monrovia, where civil war disruption was highest, and is directed toward the production of iron ore, food and rubber processing, and the manufacture of construction materials. The lack of skilled and technical labor has slowed the growth of the manufacturing sector.
The government derives a sizable income from registering ships; low fees and lack of control over shipping operations have made the Liberian merchant marine one of the world's largest. Internal communications are poor, with few paved roads and only a few short, freight-carrying rail lines. Iron ore, diamonds, rubber, timber, and coffee provide the bulk of the export earnings. In general, the value of imports greatly exceeds that of exports, and the country has accumulated massive international debts. Liberia's main trading partners are the United States and the countries of the European Union.
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