São Paulo – Some 80 Brazilian companies are going to seek markets in Iran, Egypt and Lebanon starting on Monday (12). They should be included in a trade mission promoted by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, and headed by minister Miguel Jorge. According to the minister, expectations are for business to be made and investment to be discussed, both from Brazil to the region and vice versa. “We are going to try to attract investment in oil – due to the pre-salt discoveries -, in agriculture, ethanol,” said Miguel Jorge in an interview to ANBA. The delegation should stay in the region until Friday (16).
Together, Iran, Egypt and Lebanon make up a market of around 152 million inhabitants, little less than Brazil. “The companies to participate in the mission have one characteristic: they are already exporters. And they know that there is no such thing as a small or a large market, any market is a market,” said the minister. Miguel Jorge recalled that policy of his ministry, of selling in small and large markets and diversifying, has made exports rise. “In 2002, our trade with the US represented 25% of exports. In the first two months of this year, it represented little over 12%. And we have expanded exports there,” said Miguel Jorge.
Last year, exporters to the three countries to be visited by the delegation reached US$ 3 billion, whereas Brazilian imports totalled just US$ 100 million. The surplus for Brazil, according to Miguel Jorge, is the result of food exports. “They produce very little,” he explained, regarding food. This is Miguel Jorge’s third mission including Arab countries. Apart from that, he met ministers of Arab nations at a meeting of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), in Saudi Arabia, some two years ago. Iran is in the Middle East, but is not an Arab nation.
The delegation includes companies of several sizes. A large number, however, are medium and small industries. The list includes names like Cargill Agrícola (in the agricultural sector), construction company Norberto Odebrecht, slaughterhouse Minerva, Mococa Produtos Alimentícios and Parmalat (in the dairy sector), Randon, a maker of bus bodies and trailers, mining company Usiminas, Maratá Sucos (juice), Artely Móveis (furniture), Comercial Exportadora WK (a trading company in the lumber sector), Poliron Cabos Elétricos (electric cables), Digitel Industria Eletrônica (electronics) and Leone Equipamentos Automotivos (products for vehicle maintenance). “All participation in the Brazilian trade missions has positive return for the company,” said Vinícius Leone, International Trade manager at Leone, which is headquartered in the city of São Paulo.
Leone
Leone is going to participate in the mission to open the market in the region. Up to now, in the Arab world, the company has only developed sales to Oman around one year and a half ago. The company produces automotive equipment, but also sells products made by multinationals in the sector. Abroad, however, what the company offers are projects for complete environments, such as mechanic shops and carwashes. In this trip, the main objective is to offer a petrol-station container. The petrol station is set up within a container, to simplify transport, with a pump, tank and all necessary equipment. “It is our own technology,” explained Leone.
Digitel
Digitel, headquartered in the city of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, makes telecommunications products, like routers, modems and multiplexers. It should participate in the delegation seeking a partner to represent it in the region. As it is a technology company, Digitel needs a trade representative and also a technician with contacts in the telecommunications sector, explained the international market manager, Beto Flesch. The products are offered to fixed and mobile telephony operators. Travelling to the region, according to Flesch, is part of the expansion strategy at the company, which exports to 14 countries. Digitel employs 175 people and has revenues of around US$ 30 million a year.
Poliron
The producer of Poliron electric cables, in the city of Diadema, São Paulo, is participating in the mission with the objective of seeking business in the oil and gas sector. Among the products it makes are cables that may be used by industries in the area, like refineries and oil platforms. Poliron was established in 1947 and exports to 14 countries, mainly in the Americas. But it also sells, according to export manager Solange Teixeira Gonçalves, it also exports to Europe and Africa. Solange believes that there are good business perspectives in the region, but she does not believe in sales during the trip, as, with the Arab countries, according to her, greater knowledge of both parties is necessary.
*Translated by Mark Ament
