São Paulo – Despite the recession hitting Brazil’s economy, Arabs view the local market as attractive, and are looking to sell their products in the country. Exporting companies from Arab countries are participating in the São Paulo Supermarkets Association Fair (Apas Fair), which opened this Monday (2nd) and will run until Thursday (5th) at São Paulo’s Expo Center Norte. A pavilion organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce features companies from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
“I hope things will improve, this is a great country, and the people are also great,” the businessman Ahmad Nazmi Talhouni, owner of Jordan’s Talhouni S.R.L, told ANBA regarding Brazil’s economy. The company is selling Dead Sea cosmetics at the expo. Talhouni, an exporter/importer, is also in Brazil to look into importing locally-made cosmetics and chocolates.
The chairman of Egy International Co., Egypt’s Tarek Said Said, believes the economic scenarios in Brazil and in his country are similar and that although the US dollar is strong in both markets, the price of Egyptian goods is competitive on the Brazilian market. Egy is exhibiting products such as fig, orange and strawberry jams, ginger paste, onion and bell pepper preserves, dehydrated onions, grape leaf preserve, tomato sauce, olives, olive oil, spaghetti etc.
In order to advertise his products, Said expounds on their properties. The olives, he says, are of a crunchier variety typical of the Sinai area and the spaghetti is 100% semolina. All of the items offered by Egy International at the fair are made by the Egyptian army – and therefore by the government. The company exhibiting at Apas is an export/import concern that works with the government to ensure food supplies to the population.
In addition to offering Egyptian products, it intends to import food products from Brazil as well, including beef, poultry, and sugar, as well as agricultural machinery. The goal, according to Said, is to keep the balance of trade between Brazil and Egypt on an even keel.
Dubai Export agrees that the current slump in consumption in Brazil does not pose any obstacle to introducing goods from Dubai-based companies into the Brazilian market. On display at his stand were packaging, paste from dates, date-based icing for candy, biscuits etc., as well products for refrigeration systems.
Dubai Export’s Development and Exports manager Larissa Dores believes that there could be opportunities for products from Dubai in the Brazilian market, for instance, with buyers looking for new suppliers with better prices. She believes that because Dubai’s companies are planning to expand, they could offer better prices. Dubai exports products manufactured locally and re-exports goods from other places.
At Apas’ opening ceremony, the vice-president of the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras), João Neto, stressed the sector’s confidence in the Brazilian market. “Despite the fact that the current economic moment is complicated, there are a lot of opportunities ahead”, he said on behalf of Abras’ president, Fernando Yamada, who was unable to attend. He recalled that the supermarket sector generated revenues of BRL 316 billion (USD 90.28 billion) in Brazil last year and is responsible for 9.9 million job posts. The sector accounts for 83% of foodstuff and beverage sales in the country.
In a letter sent to vice president Michel Temer, who is in line to assume the presidency in case the impeachment process of president Dilma Rousseff is approved, the sector called for the expansion of consumer credit, pro-consumption measures and income generation. “This crisis will pass, let’s prepare to grow in the future,” said Abras’ executive.
Besides the Arab business owners present at the pavilion organized by the Arab Chamber, there were also importers from the region in a business matchmaking event organized by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Sérgio Kakitani
