Dubai – The Big 5 fair started busily this year, according to representatives of Brazilian companies participating in the main fair in the building sector in the Middle East, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “Very good! Our agenda is full,” said Thais Correa, from Astra, a maker of bathroom equipment, on Monday afternoon (21), little after the opening of the fair. “For the time being, we have made many contacts,” she added.
According to her colleague, Fernanda Rezaque, this is the first time that Astra participates in the Big 5, but the company already exports to the Arab world, and this year exhibited at Project Lebanon, a fair in the same sector that took place in Beirut. “Our sales to Latin America and the Caribbean are greatly consolidated, and now we want to improve relations, invest more in the Middle East and Africa,” said Fernanda.
Astra brought to the fair toilets with tanks, toilet covers, electric showers, bathtub mock-ups, cabinets and plastic toilets for plants. According to Fernanda, the latter greatly attracted the attention of visitors. The stand received people from several countries, like Lebanon, Iran, Oman and Jordan, as well as the Emirates and India.
To the Deca representative, Mohamed Elshamy, the first day of the fair had good movement. “It seems good up to now. The first day of the event generally does not attract many people, but this year seems better,” said the businessman, who owns Arteco, a distributor of high-end building material from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates.
According to him, most visitors up to now are from neighbouring nations. “The market in the Emirates is a little slow, though it is better in other places, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” he explained. The fair director, Andy White, said to ANBA that this year’s edition registered great growth in the number of visitors from Saudi and Qatar.
Elshamy added that Deca is entering the market in the Gulf “gradually, but safely”. “It is not easy to promote the brand, it takes a while to get good,” he pointed out. “But this opportunity [of exhibiting at the fair] with Deca makes our work easier,” he pointed out.
Karina Botelho, the trader at MZ Artes, of decorative pictures and panels, said that the Brazilian stand is well positioned and receives a large flow of visitors, but observed that quantity does not necessarily mean quality. It is necessary to wait and see.
The company was also at Index, the furniture and decoration fair recently promoted in Dubai, and results were positive. The owner of the brand, Marilza Ramos, is also responsible for design of the articles.
Illustrious visit
The Brazilian pavilion, organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), was the first visited by the minister of Finance and Industry of the Emirates, Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who inaugurated the fair. He is also the deputy ruler of Dubai.
The minister was met by the CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Michel Alaby, who handed him a present and presented the stand, the exhibitors and also spoke about a trade delegation organized by the Federation of Industries of the State of Santa Catarina, which is also scheduled to visit the fair. “I said that I believe more and more in the Emirates as a gateway into the Gulf and other nearby countries,” said Alaby.
Later, the emir of Dubai and the deputy vice-president of the Emirates, Mohammed Bin Rachid Al Maktoum, also visited the fair.
*Translated by Mark Ament
