São Paulo – Five Arab companies will attend the fair of the Supermarket Association of São Paulo State (Apas), to be held from May 4th to 7th in the city of São Paulo. Coming from Morocco and Tunisia, they will display products such as olive oil, dates, pasta and couscous, among others. The companies will participate in the event in a stand organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
The participating Tunisian companies will be CHO Group, specialized in the production and bottling process of olive oil; Maghreb Investment and Development and Commercial Company, trading company that operates with olive oil, dates and other Arab food products; Boudjebel, which processes and exports fresh and dried dates, and Patês Warda, specialized in the production of pasta and couscous.
From Morocco will come Global Olives & Olive Oils Sarl, which produces olives and olive oil. Six other Moroccan companies will have their products presented by the Santa Catarina-based export-import company Trust Importação e Exportação. They are Atlas Olive Oil, Biokri, M’argana, Olivie, Celliers de Meknès and Cartier.
“The stand was set up with the goal to allow the Arab businessmen to visualize the importance of the Brazilian market to their exports”, explains Michel Alaby, CEO of the Arab Chamber. “The Chamber offers these companies the possibility to attend the biggest fair for supermarket groups in Brazil and they will have the chance to sell their products to the Brazilian market”, he emphasizes.
Alaby also points out the need for Arab exporters in general to focus more in the Brazilian market. “A more market-oriented strategy is missing so they can understand that the Brazilian market is one of 200 million consumers”, he says.
The CEO also emphasizes the issue of the signing of free trade agreements between Morocco and Tunisia with the Mercosur countries. “The agreement with Tunisia is being drafted and could allow for the market opening of the Mercosur countries to Tunisians products, especially from the agro-industrial sector. With Morocco, the negotiations stalled, and this is the moment to motivate the negotiators to search for a new approach”, he says.
Buyers
Besides Arab exhibitors, representatives of four retail chains from the Gulf regions were invited for a Buyer Project organized by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil). They are importers and will attend business rounds with Brazilian suppliers to happen simultaneously with Apas.
The companies that were invited are Sultan Center, from Kuwait, Lulu Group International and Al Maya Group, from the United Arab Emirates, and Carrefour Saudi Hypermarkets, from Saudi Arabia. On Monday (4th), before the rounds, the Gulf executives will have a meeting with representatives from Brazilian associations of the beef, poultry, fruit, and sweets sectors, and from small and medium-sized food and beverage companies. The meeting will take place in the headquarters of the Arab Chamber in São Paulo.
Service
Apas Fair
From May 4th to 7th
Place: Expo Center Norte
Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333 – Vila Guilherme – São Paulo
From 2 PM to 10 PM. In the last day, the fair closes at 8 PM
Further information at http://feiraapas.com.br
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
