São Paulo – Offering good quality, fresh and competitively priced Arab foods to retailers in Brazil are among the plans of trading company Green Space, from Dubai. Partners Nasser Laieb and Reyadh Hanna are in the country to visit and learn about small retailers and importers of pistachio, dates, apricots, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, currants, figs and olive oil.
"We have already had good feedback from Brazilians. We plan to start bringing these products to Brazil in April,” said Laieb, who visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo yesterday (03), alongside Hanna. In the morning, they both visited the Municipal Market and saw that the Arab products sold are very expensive and also that there are not many options of origin.
According to Laieb, the food should be brought from countries in the Middle East and North Africa and should be distributed by the trading company’s representatives in São Paulo and Paraná. To supply the Brazilian demand, the trading company already has a distribution centre in Curitiba, the Foods Centre. “Our differential is that we are going to sell directly to retailers, without intermediaries,” said Hanna.
From Brazil to Dubai
Green Space, which was inaugurated in August last year, started its activities buying sweets and biscuits from Brazil to take to Dubai. Up to now, sales have already totalled four containers of biscuits shipped to the emirate and another two are on the way. Apart from the Emirates, the trading company has already closed the sale of another five containers to Algeria. In few months, the partners have already closed orders with five producers from Brazil: Itamaraty and Marilan, producers of biscuits, chocolate and cakes, as well as Riclan and Aladim, of sweets and lollipops.
According to the partners, the largest difficulty of the trading company is finding Brazilian companies that are prepared to supply the Arab market with regard to labelling and packages written in Arabic. "If companies get prepared, we may double the volume of orders we have made to date,” said Laieb.
As the demand for food in the Arab market is very great, the partners are going to work exclusively with the product, for the time being. According to Hanna, in the sector of biscuits, the competition is very great with products from Turkey and Malaysia, although the variety of flavours and the weight and different packages make the difference.
Apart from sweets and biscuits, the trading company is also seeking Brazilian producers of maize flour, powdered yeast, vegetable fat, powdered chocolate and macaroni, among other foods.
Contact
Green Space General Trading
In Dubai
Telephone: (+971 4) 225-7216
Fax: (+971 4) 225-7217
Email: greenspc@eim.ae
In Curitiba
Reyadh Hanna
Mobile: (+55 41) 8800-0139
E-mail: reyadhhanna@hotmail.com
Nasser Laieb
Mobile: (+55 41) 9970-5978
E-mail: laieb@hotmail.com
*Translated by Mark Ament