Halava one of the most prominent Lebanese exports manufactured with imported ingredients

In an interesting article featuring the making of halava in Lebanon, L’Orient Le Jour daily pointed out that the product, made basically of sugar and tahini, and which is one of the most exported domestic items, is currently facing a fierce competition from similar goods manufactured in state-of-the-art factories in the Arab Gulf states and at very competitive prices. On the subject, L’Orient Le Jour interviewed Munir Bsat, the manager of Munir Bsat Factories, who underlined that Lebanon is among the top  selling countries of the halava product globally, besides Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Bsat pointed out that the domestic production of the sweet product stands at 6 thousand tons a year, 60% of which is exported. The main competing plants are, al Rabi’, Munir Bsat, al Kanater, al Yaman, Ghandur, al Nakhil and al Wadi al Akhdar. Expounding on the manufacture of the sweet confections product, Bsat said that besides tahini which is its  main ingredient, sesame is a requisite. And since the crop’s cultivation requires large acres of land, sesame is imported from China, India and Sudan to compensate for the meagre local production (maximum 100 tons a year), Bsat maintained. According to customs figures, Lebanon has imported last year some 30 thousand tons of sesame at USD 50 million, mainly from Sudan. Bsat also mentioned findings of new studies, particularly in the US, showing that people opt for new flavors of the products containing sesame due to their high nutritional values. Yet, it is early to anticipate the plan of export to the US, Bsat said, as this requires a study of customers’ tastes and food likes and, this at present is impossible for Lebanese companies to conduct due to high cost involved. (L’Orient Le Jour, September 5, 2016)

 

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