São Paulo – There are good sales opportunities for Brazilian electric products in the Arab market, according to Doracy Tasquim, International Relations analyst at the Brazilian Electric and Electronic Industry Association (Abinee).
According to the analyst, products such as pylons, insulators, metal parts, transformers and other equipment used in electric power generation, transmission and distribution are the ones that attract the attention of Arab buyers the most.
Cerâmica Santa Terezinha, a company that manufactures ceramic electric insulators, for instance, already exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The company’s sales to the Arab market are still low, at around US$ 300,000 a month.
Even though the company has already spotted prospective buyers, distributors and representatives that may increase its presence in the Arab countries, the exchange rate is a large obstacle to expanding sales, claims Niels Kleer, the commercial superintendent of Santa Terezinha. “If we had an exchange rate under which US$ 1 were worth 2.50 Brazilian reals, then we could increase exports by 50%.”
Termomecanica São Paulo, a company that processes non-ferrous metals into finished products, such as pipes, sheets, film, bars etc., does not sell to the Arab countries yet, but is in touch with a trading company operating in Algeria that has already shown interest in its copper pipes.
According to José Albano Henriques, the Export manager for Termomecanica, what attracts the company’s attention in the Arab market the most is the growth of the civil construction industry, particularly in Dubai, and the hot weather of countries in Africa and the Middle East. “This opens up opportunities for our pipes for transporting water, gas and cooling fluid, for use in air conditioning equipment.”
Last Wednesday (25th), 16 electric and electronic industry companies attended a lecture on the Arab market, during which data concerning trade of these products was presented, and the most adequate ways of negotiating with the Arabs were discussed.
Rodrigo Solano, the Market Development manager of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, who gave the lecture, explains that out of total imports made by the Arabs in 2008, 10% consisted of electric-electronic products, the equivalent of US$ 47.92 billion. Brazil only accounted for US$ 108.44 million of that total. The leading Arab buyers of electric-electronic products are United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.
To Solano, it is important to underscore that although the share is still small, the electric-electronic products exported from Brazil are those with the highest demand in the Arab countries, such as transformers, insulators, engines and generators, which are products linked to infrastructure and the building industry.
"It is important to note that the construction boom is taking place not only in Dubai, but also Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Levant countries. The construction industry is a priority in nearly all of the Arab economies," he says.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
