São Paulo – The Arab plastic product importers are open to new suppliers and willing to learn a little more about Brazilian plastic companies. So said Brazilian manufactures of plastic houseware and civil construction items after participating in virtual B2Bs with buyers from the United Arab Emirates earlier this week.
“Something has changed,” said Carlos Moreira (pictured above), Strategy and Project Planning manager of Think Plastic Brazil, the industry’s internationalization program that hosted the business event with the Arabs. According to Moreira, the industry’s companies believe that this greater openness from Arabs to Brazilian suppliers is due to the change in global supply chains ushered in by COVID-19.
The pandemic has changed the supply of several countries, and Brazil was one of the last countries to be impacted by COVID-19, which allowed trade to remain normal for longer than its competition. The finished plastic product market in the Middle East is mainly dominated by Asia and Europe, which started living the pandemic before Brazil.
Moreira said that Arab importers want to deconcentrate the supply to minimize risks. According to him, this opens up opportunities for Brazilian companies that are member of Think Plastic and already sell to the Arab countries and those who are just starting to invest in this market. Think Plastic is organized by the Braizlian Plastic Institute (INP) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (APEX-Brazil).
Prior to this, the Brazilian industry said the Arab buyers were unwilling to change suppliers. “They are more open to change and seek out new partners now,” Moreira told ANBA. Moreover, in the business meetings the Arabs said they want more than just catalogues and price lists from Brazil. According to the manager, they want to really understand who the Brazilian companies are and learn more about them, their delivery times and the stock-keeping possibilities for the importing country.
How the talks started
The B2Bs were held in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. They took place from Monday (7) to Thursday (10). Eighty-five online meetings were held between UAE importers and 16 Think Plastic Brazil Brazilian companies – some were rescheduled and are will take place soon.
This initiative will be followed by a mission to the design fair Index in the UAE on May. The B2Bs were held as a first contact with the Arabs, so that the relations can start being developed for the follow-through in the trip in 2021. Think Plastic Brazil believes the negotiation with the Arab countries demand more time and relation is longer.
Moreira says that until 2017, Think Plastic Brazil had no focus on the Arab market, but the good performance of a Brazilian plastic company in the region changed that. In 2018, a mission went to the region, taking businesspeople to Qatar and the UAE, and plastic expert to Kuwait and Oman, and results were impressive. The Arabs even started looking for Brazilian stands in world fairs.
Think Plastic
Think Plastic Brazil promotes finished plastic products. In the B2B and the mission, the participants are civil construction and houseware companies. The first includes a wide range of items from roofs to doors, wall coverings, showers, faucets, among others, while the latter includes plastic bowls, spoons, buckets, decorative pieces, among others.
The project also plans on participating in the Big 5 construction fair in the UAE and the Expo 2020, the world expo to take place in Dubai from October 2021. Think Plastic Brazil will have its own stand on both occasions. In Expo 2020, it will include a showcase of the entire plastic chain, from raw material to their final disposal.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
