Dubai – The Tuesday (24th) edition of paper The Big 5 News, the paper of the Big 5 fair, the largest event in the building sector in the Middle East, which began yesterday, in Dubai, brings two articles about three Brazilian companies that are exhibiting at the fair. The articles cover the importance of the Arab market to Brazilian companies and their expectations regarding the Arab nations.
The first article, “A night on the tiles”, talks about companies Itagres and Casagrande, makers of floor and facing tiles. According to the export manager at Itagres, Silvio Fernandes, the Arab market represented 5% of company exports up to six years ago and now represents 35%. “Last year, we sold over US$ 1 million to the Middle East and I expect, to close the same value this year, at least, if not a little more,” said Fernandes to The Big 5 News.
In an interview to ANBA, Fernandes said that this year Itagres exports dropped 50%. However, to the Arab nations, the sales have grown between 20% and 30%, mainly to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait. “We are now going to start on the North African market,” said the manager, who is participating in the Big 5 for the fifth time.
To win the Arabs, Itagres developed a line of products for the market and, at the fair, is launching a line of polished tiles with much gloss, very pleasing to the Arabs, according to Fernandes, as well as a line that imitates Italian marble.
The same article talks about Casagrande, also in the ceramic tile sector. The company, which ships around 10% of its foreign sales to the Arab market, is seeking new distributors in the Middle East. “The Emirates, and specifically Abu Dhabi, are a great opportunity for us,” said the export manager at the company, Claudio Cetenareski, to the fair newspaper.
The second article, “HSCC lands major regional job”, is about the closing of a deal for sales of skirting boards by Santa Luzia in the United Arab Emirates, as informed by ANBA yesterday. The Dubai representative of the company from Santa Catarina, HSCC Business Solution, closed the US$ 150,000 deal. The frames and skirting boards made by the company are produced out of polystyrene. “Polystyrene is the perfect solution for the Arab market. It is cheaper than wood and lasts longer,” said the development manager at HSCC, Tania Lompa.
*Translated by Mark Ament
