São Paulo – This Wednesday (5th) at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo, representatives of Algeria’s Touati group met with four Brazilian trading companies, aiming to find new suppliers. At the meeting, the businessmen negotiated sales of household appliances, wooden furniture, and foodstuffs.
The Algerians had already visited the Chamber last Friday (30th). On that occasion, the group’s representative Samir Boubaar said the company wants to have more suppliers, and told ANBA that Brazilian companies have the potential to compete with the Groupe Touati’s current suppliers, who are from China, Turkey and Egypt. The company is mostly seeking food and cosmetics, among other materials.
At the meeting this Wednesday (30th), the businessmen negotiated with Lex Trading to import white marble from the state of Espírito Santo. Keep Trading may export hair cosmetics for professional use or retail sales. Global Resources negotiated supplying soya oil, juice and biscuits. Bassam Brasil discussed exporting wooden and appliances.
None of the companies closed any deals with the Algerians, but the trader for Bassam Brasil, Vinícius Garcia, believes negotiations may progress over the next few days. “We have good experience with exporting stoves made in Brazil to the African market, and that may happen again with Algeria. Brazil is very strong in manufacturing and pricing for stoves in particular. They were very interested because of our superior quality and competitive prices compared to China’s,” said Garcia.
The trader also believes his wooden shelf and rack line may also be successful in Algeria. “We sell a lot of these products in Kuwait and I believe there is a strong demand for them in Algeria as well,” said Garcia, who also has customers in the United Arab Emirates.
Groupe Touati imports and distributes consumer goods, food and building material, and sells them at its own stores. The company is based on Setif, approximately 280 kilometres from Algiers. In addition to suppliers from Egypt, Turkey and China, the company buys some of its products from Grupo Cevital, one of the largest in the country and a competitor. The company imports from US$ 2 million to US$ 3 million worth of consumer goods each year.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
