Isaura Daniel São Paulo – Brazil has potential to receive investment from Arab countries, especially in the food, agribusiness, textile, and shoe sectors. This statement is by Deloitte Corporate Finance partner Ricardo de Carvalho. "Brazilian companies have products and technology, but they need capital to grow. In Brazil, money is very expensive," he stated. Carvalho
Author: Isaura Daniel
Isaura Daniel
A journalist with a degree from Unisinos and experience in economy and finance, she has been responsible for international coverages and amassed eight journalism prizes.
In the first seven months of this year, the import volume (411 tonnes) rose 39.4% in contrast to the same period last year. The cotton, long and extra-long fibre, comes from Egypt to supply Brazilian producers of nobler and more expensive textile products. The Arab country produced around 289,700 tonnes of cotton last year and exported 61% of the total.
This target was stipulated yesterday (19) during a meeting between technicians and negotiators of the South American bloc, in Brazilian capital Brasília. The signing should mark the start of negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Arab country. They also finalized a proposal for a trade preference treaty to be signed with Egypt.
Audaces, a company from the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, which produces software and equipment for the garment industry, is going to ship its first products to Egyptian companies Hedtex Company and Mesk Makka, both in the garment area, in September. The sale was executed through a local distributor.
Last year, 280 new small companies started selling to both regions. They are currently 939 companies, and represent 27% of those exporting to the region. The micro and small companies have improved their products, learnt to deal with exchange rates and export procedures, thus having revenues of US$ 1.7 billion in foreign trade last year, US$ 400 million over the 2002 figure.
Within 10 years, Brazilian coffee producers may see crop productivity rise from the current 17 to 19 bags per hectare to between 30 and 32 bags per hectare. In the future they will grow coffee developed in the Brazilian Coffee Genome project, the largest data bank for research of the plant in the world. Researchers are going to identify the function of genes, and are going to transport the best to commercial varieties.
Around 30 Algerian businessmen and government representatives will spend five days in the country. They are interested in buying from meats to construction material. Brazilian companies interested in participating in the business roundtables should get in contact with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce or the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Professionals from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul have already designed products for brands in Argentina and Spain. This interest is motivating the opening of a series of courses turned to the sector, as most of the designers who operate on the market are either self-taught or, at the most, technicians in shoe production. Creativity is what favours the Brazilians.
During Transnational fair, to present services and products to over one hundred exhibitors, there will also be a forum for foreign trade discussion. Executives from companies that sell their products outside the country will explain how they started exporting. The show and the forum started on August 18, at Expo Transamérica, in São Paulo.
This position was shown, at a technical level, during a meeting that took place in Argentina at the beginning of the July. There is still no consensus, however, between the four members of the South American bloc with regard to the enquiry made by the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with regard to a treaty with the region. The matter should be discussed in a meeting to take place in Brazilian capital Brasília on August 18 and 19.
Maher Idriss participated, last weekend, in a business roundtable promoted by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in Aracaju, capital of the northeastern state of Sergipe. The importer visited four factories, some plantations and talked to local concentrated orange juice producers. He has been purchasing Brazilian orange juice, but has also shown interest in purchasing juice made out of pineapple and passion fruit.
They sold US$ 177 million to the countries in the Middle East and North Africa and in the first six months of the year. The region answered to 16.7% of sector import. The products traditionally purchased are sugar and chicken, according to the spokesperson of the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB), Júlio Pohl.
The company has closed sales contracts for an estimated US$ 400,000 with distributors in three countries and is also negotiating with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates now. General Brands has been in operation for only seven years, but its main product, powdered juice Camp, is already in the third place among the most sold powdered juices in Brazil.
Raúl Cano Ricciardi, Foreign Trade director of the Paraguayan Foreign Relations Ministry, stated that his country is interested in increasing trade with the Arab nations. He believes that free trade accords, like the one being discussed with Egypt, are a good way of providing incentives to the trade flow and generating contact between businessmen.
