Potential and opportunities to increase exports to the Lebanese market

Head of Trade Office Nguyen Duy Hung presented at the Trade Promotion Workshop "Vietnam-Lebanon: Trade Potential and Opportunities" on March 12, 2025

Although taking place during the holy month of Ramadan, the Trade Promotion Conference still attracted the participation of many Lebanese businesses in fields such as supermarkets, seafood, garments, footwear, pharmaceuticals, construction steel, maritime transport, and software services, showing the interest and need to diversify cooperation and seek supply sources from Vietnam of Lebanese businesses.

As a bridge to promote cooperation between businesses of the two countries, Head of Trade Office Nguyen Duy Hung presented at the Workshop a number of potential areas of trade cooperation and necessary support for Lebanese businesses such as verifying business information, information on Vietnam's import-export and investment policies, information on annual international fairs and exhibitions held in Vietnam, list of reputable export businesses, etc.

Exchange with Lebanese businesses attending the Trade Promotion Workshop

During the discussion, Lebanese import enterprises mentioned difficulties in cooperation such as some Vietnamese export enterprises not being good at English, lack of information to look up on the internet and wanting support in fast visa procedures for enterprises to attend trade fairs and exhibitions in Vietnam. Some Lebanese enterprises in the IT and software services sector mentioned the lack of information to assess the capacity of Vietnamese IT enterprises and need advice on procedures to open a company in Vietnam.

The Trade Office discussed and answered related questions and provided additional information about Vietnamese associations so that Lebanese businesses could study the possibility of cooperation with member businesses of the associations.

Canned tuna products from Vietnam are sold at Hoz Mall supermarket, Lebanon.

Previously, the Trade Office had a survey and worked with the Hoz Mall supermarket chain in Al Koura district, Northern province of Lebanon. Here, Mr. Wassim El Hoz, Chairman of the supermarket, said that many Vietnamese products were sold at the supermarket such as frozen pangasius fillets, shrimp dumplings, canned tuna and he was ready to import more new products from Vietnam to introduce to Lebanese consumers.

During a working session with the pharmaceutical company UBSA Pharma Industries in Tripoli city, General Director Zakaria El Sayed and CEO Omar El Sayed also expressed their desire to cooperate with Vietnamese pharmaceutical enterprises and import vitamins and minerals for pharmaceutical production.

Lebanon is a market in the Middle East and Africa with great potential and is a great opportunity for Vietnamese export enterprises. According to data from the Lebanese Customs, the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and Lebanon in 2024 will reach 97 million USD, an increase of 9.3% compared to 2023 (of which Vietnam's export turnover accounts for almost all, up to 99.4% of the total turnover).

Lebanon – Vietnam import-export turnover (Source: Lebanon Customs)

Vietnam's export turnover to Lebanon decreased sharply in 2020 when the country experienced a prolonged economic and political crisis, with the Lebanese Parliament failing to elect a President from November 2022 to January 2025. However, Lebanon had a President from January 9, 2025 and a new government was formed 4 weeks later, which helped end the political crisis and allowed the Lebanese government to access funds to support the country's reconstruction. The Lebanese economy is therefore forecast to recover soon, and import demand and trade turnover will also accelerate rapidly in the coming time. The main groups of goods Lebanon imports from Vietnam in the current period are seafood (frozen and processed), coffee, pepper, rice, footwear, garment accessories and machinery and electrical equipment.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/thi-truong-nuoc-ngoai/tiem-nang-va-co-hoi-tang-cuong-xuat-khau-sang-thi-truong-lebanon.html