São Paulo – In its first institutional participation with a pavilion, Brazil closed USD 1.6 million in deals at the International Exhibition of Agriculture in Morocco (SIAM), which ended this Sunday (7) in Meknés. Exhibitors expect to sell another USD 25.4 million over the next 12 months, according to the agricultural attaché of Brazil in Morocco, Ellen Elizabeth Laurindo.
In total, 12 Brazilian companies participated in the space. Products such as açaí, cupuaçu, live cattle, poultry protein, tilapia, cheese, coffee, jam, pepper, and pulses were showcased. In addition to foodstuffs, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, and irrigation solutions were also presented.
Cristina Fonseca Silva represented three brands. The executive exhibited and presented products from Nelly Cafés, Agroexport, and Biospicesfood. The first brand is focused on coffee, the second on live cattle, and the third sells black pepper.
According to Silva, coffee and live cattle were some of the products that stood out the most at the event. “Of the three companies I represent, two already export to Morocco. Participation was positive. Closed deals amounted to around USD 300,000, but there are other promising deals still open to some adjustments,” she pointed out, regarding the expectation of sales of up to USD 3.5 million for live cattle, for example.
The agricultural attaché also pointed out that Brazilian participation highlighted new products for the local market. “Unknown to most Moroccans, açaí was highly sought after, even by the minister of Agriculture of Morocco, Mr. Mohammed Sadiki, who was exclusively at the Brazil pavilion to taste the delicacy from the Amazon rainforest region. Pepper sauces and black pepper were also in great demand, with great expectations for sales,” she said in an interview with ANBA.
Açaí
The Amazonian delicacy, mentioned by the attaché, is Yolo Açaí’s flagship product. The brand also presented other products at the Moroccan show, such as cupuaçu and passion fruit creams, and a 60% cocoa vegan chocolate cream.
This is the first time the brand exhibited at SIAM in Morocco. “It was one of the stands with the longest queue and the most people asking about the product, as it was recommended by those who had already been there and tried it. We came to do business and introduce açaí to Morocco, one of the only countries that still didn’t know our Brazilian fruit. Our mission was accomplished. Now it’s time to work on sending the first container to Morocco and distributing it throughout the country,” revealed Alan Ricardo Fortes, director of Yolo, a brand name that refers to the phrase “You only live once.”
The brand took 70 kilos of açaí to Moroccan lands to promote the tasting. Yolo has scheduled, for this week, three meetings in the city of Casablanca with businesspeople interested in the products. “We still don’t export to Morocco; we want to start soon. We export to the United States, Portugal, and Dubai; we are looking for new countries,” said the director.
The brand is nine years old and has several franchise points of sale in the city of São Paulo. The company’s goal is to find a distributor to work with self-service points, food service, wholesale, and, later, even take the franchising to Morocco as well.
The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce was represented at the show by Institutional Relations director Fernanda Baltazar.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
