Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco are not major buyers of Brazilian juices and fruit. But they might come to be. It is with this purpose that the Brazilian Fruit Institute (Ibraf) is going to participate in the mission to the three North African countries that the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) will promote from May 28 until June 05.
"Although this is a large market, the countries to be visited do not make large-scale purchases of fruit and their products. Nevertheless, their potential with regard to imports of juices and fruit is quite interesting, and Brazil has a large capacity for supply," says international consultant Paulo Passos, who will represent the institute in the mission. Brazil produces approximately 40 million tonnes of fruit per year.
Out of the three countries, Egypt and Tunisia imported juices and fresh fruit from Brazil in 2006. Egypt spent US$ 83,000 in Brazilian fruit. Tunisia purchased US$ 240,000 in fruit and US$ 40,000 in juices. The potential of these markets, though, is much greater. Egypt consumes approximately 118 million litres of juices per year. Morocco imports around US$ 47 million in fruit and juices, and Tunisia, some US$ 21.7 million.
The Ibraf objective in the mission, according to Passos, is to open up new markets, to promote Brazilian juices and fruit to potential importers and to establish channels for future negotiations. The representative from the institute wants to check the possibility of carrying out technical visits to local production areas and distributors during the trip. "In order to get to know the potentialities and business opportunities in the region," says Passos.
The consultant recalls that Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt together comprise a market of approximately 120 million people, and that North Africa is the destination for 40% of Brazilian exports to the Arab world. "The North African market, with its inhabitants and its possibilities of extension towards Europe and the Middle East, due to its strategic position, ensures the opening up of huge trade channels for Brazilian tropical juice," says Passos.
The Ibraf carries out regular actions abroad to promote the Brazilian juice and fruit sector. In the Arab world, the institute attended, in January, the Gulf Food, a trade fair for the food sector held in Dubai, and which generated US$ 400,000 in business for Brazilian companies. At the occasion, five national companies participated in the fair, which should yield US$ 3 million in business over the next 12 months.
In the second half of this year, the Ibraf is going to promote, in Dubai, the Brazilian Fruit Festival. The action will include promotion, tasting, and commercialisation of Brazilian fresh fruit and their products in local retail chains.
The mission
Besides Ibraf, also represented in the mission will be 23 Brazilian companies and organisations. The associations are in the sectors of fruit and juices, leather components, shoes and artefacts, and medical and hospital equipment. The companies are in sectors such as foods, beverages, bakery inputs, shoe components, irrigation equipment, tools, and construction material.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
