São Paulo – After three days of activities in the UAE, Brazilian fruit company executives are enthused about selling more of their product in the country. Delegates from six enterprises are seeking out opportunities as part of Frutas do Brasil, a project led by the Brazilian Fruit Growers-Exporters Association (Abrafrutas) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
The executives visited supermarkets and fruit markets (pictured above). They also got in touch with importers and sat through a seminar alongside local buyers. Abrafrutas CEO Eduardo Brandão believes the trip could drive up Brazil-UAE fruit sales as early as this second half of the year. “We’ll try to have something lined up before we even leave here, but the trip has been great as a way of becoming familiar with the market,” he told ANBA over the phone.
Brandão is betting on the export of fruits like grapes mango, banana and avocado, as well as processed fruit. “Quality is what will allow us to win over this market for good,” the CEO said. According to him, it was possible to get a good idea of what Emiratis are used to buying by going to markets. According to him, avocado is very popular right now, and available in every market. “It’s a fruit that Brazil is producing in good numbers and with quality,” he says.
The CEO believes Brazil can also supply the UAE with bananas, before they expire; with mango, which are popular and mostly imported from Africa; and with items like 100% whole grape juice, which weren’t available at the markets, and coconut water. The idea is to offer high value-added, high-quality fruit to the UAE to get an edge on the competition.
A big challenge when it comes to fruit is freight costs, since Brazil is farther away than other source countries. Brandão believes quality product could outweigh this issue. Logistics were one of the topics in discussion during a seminar given this Tuesday (9) in Dubai, featuring speakers including Guilherme Lagarcha, the sales manager for logistics company Hapag-Lloyd AG in Saudi Arabia.
Brandão recounts that the Brazilian delegation got in touch with a major distributor of quality fruit at the Vegetable Market, which has started delivering fruits and vegetables. “It’s a new approach to selling, an interesting outlet, and we will try to enter into partnership so our fruit will be available via delivery,” said the CEO. Brandão is a strong believer in the UAE’s potential as an avenue to diversifying fruit exports from Brazil, 60% of which currently ship to Europe.
In 2017 the UAE imported USD 2.2 billion worth of fruit, with Brazil accounting for a meager USD 17.4 million of that amount, or 0.8%. So said Antonio Lopes, a business analyst at Apex-Brasil’s Middle East and North Africa Office in Dubai, during the seminar. He showed that fresh and processed grapes make up the bulk of Brazil-UAE fruit sales. The UAE’s biggest fruit supplier is the United States, with sales amounting to USD 422 million in 2017.
According to Abrafrutas material, its projects manager Jorge de Souza said during the seminar that Brazil could sell more product, since it produces fruits all-year round with standout quality and flavor. “Although there has been an increase, we’re falling short of our potential,” Apex-Brasil Middle East and North Africa COO Karen Jones told ANBA over the phone regarding Brazilian product in the UAE. Jones was also a speaker in the seminar.
She explained that the Apex-Brasil office has been working on the fruit industry since 2014, with actions including Brazilian missions to the UAE, UAE importers’ trips to Brazil, and market studies. “This trip is great, it’s yet another opportunity to do this work” she said.
The seminar opened with an address from the ambassador of Brazil to the UAE, Fernando Igreja. Aside from Antonio Lopes, Jorge Souza and Guilherme Lagarcha, speakers included Kibsons International procurement manager Daniel Cabral, among other people. Cabral discussed the UAE’s fruit industry scenario, its peculiarities and what importers are looking for. The Brazilian executives visited the headquarters of Kibsons, a fresh produce importer, wholesaler, distributor and retailer. Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce Dubai office chief Rafael Solimeo attended the seminar.
Speaking with ANBA, Eduardo Brandão commended the work done by Apex-Brasil, which scheduled the activities and got the Brazilian executives in touch with local fruit industry players. “The contacts that were made with distributors were very meaningful, thanks to Apex,” he said, adding that he’ll need the Arab Chamber – which opened its Dubai office this year – to help with the procedural aspects of getting Brazilian executives into the UAE market.
The Brazilian delegates had a meeting with the Apex-Brasil team on on Monday to kick off their UAE activities. Their last appointment will be a visit to the Port of Jebel Ali on Thursday (11). The mission is called Frutas do Brasil Festival Dubai, and participating companies are grape companies Labrunier and Copa; banana companies Brook Fresh and Unifrutas; fruit juice/coconut water company Timbaúba Agrícola; and mango company Sebastião da Manga.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
