The Phoenicians became traders and not farmers because there were not many lands for them to farm.
At the beginning, they mostly traded with the Greeks: woods, wool, cotton, slaves, glass and a powdered Tyrian purple dye used by the greeks to color robes and dresses. To Egyptians, Phoenicians sold wine and bought Nubian gold from them. They obtained other materials (focusing on silver) from Sardinia and the Iberian Peninsula.
