São Paulo – Over 2,500 buyers from near 60 countries are filling the aisles of Couromoda, the leather footwear and accessories fair that runs until Thursday (19) at Expo Center Norte in the city of São Paulo. They came to look at thousands of models of purses, belts, apparel and footwear – the latter the exhibition’s flagship article – manufactured by Brazilian companies.
According to the Brazilian Footwear Industry Association (Abicalçados), last year Brazil exported 126.17 million pairs of shoes, totaling USD 999 million in revenues, improved numbers in comparison to 2015 in volume (1.7%) and in value (4%).
Purchases by the Arab countries, however, went the opposite way and declined 21.9% in the same comparison, accounting for 3.8% of Brazilian shipments, according to data from the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services compiled by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
In this year’s edition, more than ten buyers invited as guests by the fair’s organization come from the Middle East, and two of them are attending Couromoda at the invitation of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), more specifically the agency’s buyer project VIP Buyer – which offers the visitor a more personalized business schedule.
Walid Tarabey is one of the VIP buyers. Visiting Brazil for the first time, the Lebanese living in Dubai is impressed with quality and diversity of local footwear. “It’s incredible. The business environment is very good, Brazilians are very professional. I feel good in doing business with them,” he said in an interview to ANBA during Couromoda.
An independent buyer, Tarabey has scheduled over 35 visits during the exhibition, to get to know the different types of women’s, men’s and children’s footwear, but always searching for the more comfortable items and designed to the upper classes – one of his stores is at the Dubai mall, the emirates’ largest shopping mall. According to him, Brazilian products offer very good potential.
But the buyer didn’t want to reveal the investment he’s planning to make in this visit to Brazil. His plans, actually, is to buy a couple of products to test both the approval by the United Arab Emirates consumers and the red tape procedures, such as documentation and logistics. “Since I have never bought anything in Brazil, I need to learn how it all works,” he explained.
According to Roberta Ramos, Abicalçados’ project manager, it’s increasingly common for deals not to be closed during the fair. “Negotiations start here and then talks pick up later,” she explains. The association hasn’t made a forecast on the amount of businesses done in the event, but expects to publish a report on it at the end of the fair.
Tarabey is taking this approach. For now he hasn’t closed any deals but was able to open doors in Brazilian companies. It’s in his plans to return to the country in the future to get to know some footwear manufacturing plants.
“I’m Lebanese and always thank the people of Dubai for welcoming me and give me the opportunity to do business there. Now I also thank the Brazilian people for bringing me here to get to know the footwear industry and give me a chance to do business together,” said Tarabey before saying goodbye to ANBA. The Arab was in a bit of a hurry: before continuing with his long schedule he wanted to make a stop in the food court to eat a tapioca crepe.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
