Lebanon fresh fruit and vegetables

Lebanon is situated between Europe and the Middle East. The country has a variety of agricultural lands suitable to grow a diversity of crops. The majority of exports go to the Middle East, in particular Syria. The Gulf market is also large, but global competitors act on this market too. Lebanon's main competitors are Mediterranean countries with similar climatic conditions and seasonality benefits. Still, Lebanese fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) exporters are in a strong position to diversify and strengthen their position in global markets. The European Union (EU) is an interesting market for FFV, because of its high demand for off-season fruit and vegetables.

In 2019, the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) started the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Lebanon project for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Lebanese FFV sector. We help them to explore opportunities in the EU, Gulf, and other international markets.

Project goals

• Help Lebanese FFV SMEs get a competitive position in the European and the Gulf export markets;
• Help Lebanese SMEs to get access to excellent export support from business support organisations (BSOs);
• Provide business export coaching (BEC) to SMEs to create and implement export management and corporate social responsibility (CSR) plans;
• Help SMEs with market entry activities;  
• Introduce SMEs to potential importers;
• Boost the branding and marketing of Lebanese FFV on the European and Gulf markets;
• help with the development of a sector website with market information;
• Address social issues in the sector.

Project participants and products

21 companies are taking part in this export coaching project.

Contact CBI to find out more or contact these exporters. You can also meet some of these potential suppliers at Fruit Logistica in Berlin (Germany) in February 2024. For more information, contact CBI.

Partners

In this project, CBI works together with partners:  

• The Lebanese Ministry of Economics and Trade (MoET); and
• The Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture Lebanon (MoA).

The focus of the collaborations with MoET and MoA is the development of an online portal for Lebanese FFV exporters: the Lebtrade Portal. Also, the Lebfresh Portal has been developed, which contains a database of Lebanese FFV exporters.

We work together with 4 chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture to improve their service delivery towards the export community:

• Beirut and Mount-Lebanon (CCIB);
• Zahle and the Bekaa (CCIAZ);
• Saida and the South (CCIAS);
• Tripoli and the North (CCIAT).

Other partners in the project are:

• René Moawad Foundation (RMF). RMF works on a similar project with a focus on technical aspects, such as post-harvest issues, cold chain management and GlobalGAP-certification. CBI focuses on managerial and strategic aspects.    
• UNICEF Lebanon;
• International Labour Organisation (ILO);
• CSR Lebanon;
• Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO); and
• Financial institutions, universities, donors, NGOs, PUM, and Expertise France (EF).

With these organisations and companies, a sector export marketing plan (SEMP) has been developed. This SEMP addresses the challenges in the sector and sector branding. It will aid the Lebanese FFV sector to become better known on international markets.

Activities

• Help SMEs to implement of their export marketing plans. These include CSR;
• Identify CSR challenges in the sector, and provide CSR awareness training to participants;
• Help with selecting relevant certifications for market entry and coaching to obtain these;
• Participation in Fruit Logistica in February 2024, the major European trade fair for the FFV industry;
• Implementation of the SEMP, together with the task force;
• Implementation of a webportal;
• Activities to combat child labour in collaboration with UNICEF.

Get involved as an importer

Are you a European importer interested in fresh fruits and vegetables from companies in Lebanon? Contact CBI to get more information or to meet with suppliers in this project being trained to export to Europe.