São Paulo – The 11th business roundtables promoted at Hospitalar Fair, which ended on Thursday (24), in São Paulo, has opened perspectives for at least US$ 15 million in business over the next 12 months. Also during the event, a company from Jordan and another from Egypt purchased products evaluated at US$ 50,000 each.
To the international project manager at the Brazilian Association of the Industry of Medical, Dental, Hospital and Laboratory Articles and Equipment (Abimo), Paula Portugal, the result obtained in the business roundtables were “excellent”.
"It was above expected. There were 55 Brazilian companies selling and 21 [foreign] buyers. There were approximately 600 meetings in three days of roundtables [from May 22nd to 24th] and there were quality negotiations as buyers already knew with whom they were talking at the start of the meeting,” she said. Apart from the US$ 15 million that Brazilian sellers forecast to export over the coming 12 months, there are possibilities, according to Portugal, for these sales to grow further. "We do not know how much clients plan to buy,” she said.
The business roundtables were promoted by the Brazilian Health Devices (BHD) project, coordinated by Abimo in partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex). Importers were invited from South Africa, India, Indonesia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco.
Ms. Portugal believes that the next roundtables may be greater than these, with more buyers. “It was easy to bring companies here. When we placed the invitation, there was much interest. This shows that they want to learn more and more about Brazil and Brazilian products. In the next edition we are going to try to bring more buyers,” she said.
The sales to the clients in Egypt and Jordan were not isolated. Although clients in all countries have shown interest in medical products made in Brazil, Ms. Portugal says that the Arabs presented greater interest in buying. "They show themselves, above all, very surprised and enthusiastic, and the reciprocal by sellers is also true,” she said.
In 2011, the medical and hospital product sector exported US$ 707 million. Of this total, according to Abimo, US$ 57 million were paid by countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The main buyers were Iran, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
*Translated by Mark Ament
