Marina Sarruf*
São Paulo – Brazilian furniture exhibited at the Brazilian Contemporary Furniture & Home Décor Exhibition (Abimad 2007), in São Paulo, will soon be on sale on the Arab market. Importers from the region of the Gulf, who participated yesterday (08) in the first day of the event, which was open exclusively to foreign buyers, believe that they will close deals by the end of the fair. "The furniture has excellent quality, design and finishing," stated the president of Jordanian group Mas For Furnitures Trading Company, Sharaf Hayajnih.
According to him, the Arab group imports furniture from China, Malaysia, Tunisia, Taiwan and Turkey and reexports to Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. "We hope to start importing from Brazil after the fair," stated Hayajnih, who imports on average 1,200 containers a year, which corresponds to US$ 10 million. "The volume that we are going to import from Brazil will depend on the price," he finished off, explaining that he is interested in the dining room furniture made by company Formanova, from the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.
One of the companies in the group is Soft House, which only sells high-end furniture and has two shops in Amman, the Jordanian capital. Hayajnih is after furniture ranging from tables and chairs to dining rooms, sofas and office furniture and accessories for decoration. Another Jordanian businessman who was interested in the furniture made by the company from Santa Catarina was Wessam Abu Oss, from company Fathallah Furniture. "We are always after differentiated furniture," he said.
If this is the first time that the Jordanians come to Brazil, it is already the second trip of Mikdad Bhabhrawala, the manager of Dubai Western Furniture. "I was at the fair last year, but I did not manage to import due to logistics problems. I believe that now I will manage," he said. What pleased Bhabhrawala the most was the more contemporary furniture. "I am impressed with the Brazilian contemporary style. I will certainly close deals by the end of the fair," he finished off.
Western Furniture imports 90% of its furniture from Italy and the rest from Spain and China. Bhabhrawala estimates that he should import three containers of Brazilian furniture, between US$ 60,000 and US$ 100,000. Apart from their four shops in the Emirates, the company from Dubai also has a branch of the famous Italian Natuzzi furniture brand, located in the main avenue in Dubai, Sheik Zayed Road.
The company from Dubai imports around 100 containers a year, which corresponds to four or five million euros. According to Bhabhrawala, each container can carry around 120 seats, in sofas ranging from one to four seats. Western Furniture also sells between 15% and 20% in furniture to India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Africa.
Most of the Arab importers at Abimad 2007 already knew Brazilian furniture because of Index, the furniture fair that takes place in Dubai every year and includes the participation of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
One of them is the sales manager of Saudi company Jazeera Furnishing, Hussein Khazaal. At Index, he imported a container of upholstered furniture made by Estobel. The Arab company has three shops in Saudi Arabia and imports from Europe, the United States, China and Malaysia. "From what I saw at the fair today (yesterday), I was interested in two companies: two makers of kids furniture and another of ancient style furniture, made out of wood. I believe that up to the end of the fair, I should close deals," he said.
According to Khazaal, the Brazilian furniture is higher priced than he expected. Apart from the price, the manager also finds that variety of Brazilian furniture is lacking in different styles. This opinion is the same as that of the marketing manager of company Ideal Furniture, from Bahrain, Jaffar A. Khalil. "I imported from Brazil two years ago. I find the products very good, but the prices are very high," he said.
The Arab retailers are at the fair at the invitation of the Brazilian High-End Furniture Manufacturers Association (Abimad), the organizers of the fair, in partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex). In total, 50 importers, being 15 Arabs, are participating in the event, which will be opened to the public starting today (09).
Service
Brazilian Contemporary Furniture & Home Décor Exhibition
Date: February 9th to 12th
Site: Imigrantes Exhibition Centre
Address: Rodovia dos Imigrantes, km 1.15
*Translated by Mark Ament
