Dubai – With the appreciation of the real as against the dollar, the international market is not easy for Brazilian exporters, mainly due to competition with the Chinese and Indians. To sell their products abroad, exhibitors in the Brazilian pavilion at the Big 5 Show, a building sector fair that is taking place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, bet on exclusiveness.
"To compete with China and India it is necessary to have a differentiated product," said Claudio Lyrio, from Santa Clara Pedras Ornamentais, on Tuesday (23), the second day of the fair. As an example, he mentioned blue onyx plates extracted from the company’s own quarries and lit from behind. "[The clients] liked this play with lights very much, working with translucid material," he said.
The company from Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, in the state of Espírito Santo, is participating in the Big 5 for the third time. "The market is still recovering from the crisis, but it is possible to feel that there has been improvement as against last year," said Lyrio. Santa Clara exports to the Middle East regularly.
He pointed out, however, that importers are currently seeking cheaper material, like that supplied by the Chinese and Indians, that is where is the need to present products that the competitors do not have. "We must work with this differential, it is not possible to promote a price war," he said. Apart from the appreciated real, the cost of labour and freight makes Brazilian products more expensive.
In the same line, Sílvia Malenza and Marco Aurélio Netto, from Mining Company Corcovado, in Serra, also in Espírito Santo, stated that the international granite market "is still existing," but there was loss in competitiveness of Brazilian companies due to depreciation of the dollar. "Therefore, we are trying to bring exclusive material," said Sílvia.
The company produces granite blocks and plates and supplied material to the company that made the floor of Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport. It was always turned to the foreign market, but is now investing in sales in Brazil to try to minimise international losses.
Netto says, however, that at the Big 5, he has already received many contacts and requests for quotations. "But we are not sure of what will effectively be concluded," he said.
The appreciated real has also been a problem for GCM Trade, a consortium of exporters from the state of Paraná that was established with initial focus on the Middle East. According to the group’s representative, Gustavo Milazzo, businessmen in the field bet much on the cost/benefit relations to sell their products, but with the appreciated real the way out has been investment in finished items to have some differential, like door frames and skirting boards. "That is starting to generate some result," said Milazzo.
Ever since it started prospecting the market in the region, having participated in two editions of the Dubai Wood Show fair, the consortium exported products to Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon. "There is much potential and we have made good contacts," said Milazzo. In his case, the main competitors are the Chileans and suppliers from Eastern Europe.
Competition with China is not yet a problem to Top Telha, a maker of ceramic tiles from Leme, in the interior of São Paulo. The company exports to 10 countries and has its main competitors in the form of the Spanish and Italians. According to the export manager, Fernando Frugis, it is possible to have an advantage in competition with the Europeans.
He is, anyway, presenting a differentiated product, a tile bathed in silicon, impermeable. Frugis throws water on the material to show that it doesn’t get waterlogged. Top Telha is participating in the Big 5 for the first time.
"I am making many contacts and have received promises for import," he said. "But more business opportunities are coming from other countries, not the Emirates," he added. As examples, he mentioned Qatar, Pakistan and India.
Another company participating in the fair for the first time is Tecnoflash, which makes an "evaporating climatiser", a machine similar to a fan that helps reduce the temperature of the climate using steam. It is one more company that suffers with Chinese competition.
"The competition form China is very strong," said the international sales director, Bruno Dalla Fina. "The result is that everyone speaks of the lack of quality of Chinese [products], but they love the price," he added.
The company Itatiaia, from Rio de Janeiro, already exports and, in Dubai, according to Dalla Fina, it would be ideal to have a distributor. He also didn’t discard the possibility of developing a new product, simpler, to supply the Arab market competing with the Chinese.
*Translated by Mark Ament
