Alexandre Rocha*
São Paulo – The Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association (Abiec) is going to participate in a food sector fair in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the first time, and is also going to promote a workshop for clients and potential buyers at a hotel in the city. "Dubai was chosen as most of our associates felt that the emirate presented good structure and strategic operating conditions," stated the executive director at the organization, Antonio Jorge Camardelli.
The fair is Gulf Food, to take place between February 19 and 22. The workshop will take place on February 22, with the support of the Brazilian embassy in the Emirates. According to Camardelli, apart from local consumers, Brazilian companies are eyeing the potential represented by tourists who visit the country and by neighbouring nations, as Dubai may be used as a distribution centre to other destinations in the region.
"We are foreseeing a more dynamic market, which may in future be a distribution centre to other countries, including Iraq," said Camardelli. That is why it was decided to develop two trade promotion activities in the country: participation in the fair and the workshop. That will make it possible for companies to make contact with the entire chain of potential clients, like traders, wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, hotels and airline catering services. Both events will be developed in partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex).
Business
The workshop, more than showing, through a barbecue, how meat is eaten in Brazil, will be a business event. According to the marketing manager at the Abiec, Andréa Veríssimo, there will be business roundtables between Brazilian and local companies, then there will be a press event and a presentation by the Abiec president, Marcus Vinícius Pratini de Morais. Only after the presentation will lunch be served with a barbecue of Brazilian meat. "There will be a variety of meats, all halal certified," stated Camardelli.
According to Andréa Veríssimo, the promotion of workshops like this one brings a series of advantages. "First of all the investment is lower than promoting a fair and the event is turned only to Brazilian beef. At a fair you have next door to you your competitors, at the workshop, contact with the client is intense," he said. Between 200 and 300 guests are expected.
According to him, the efficiency of the barbecues has already been proven in six similar events, among them two in Egypt, one in Algeria and two in Bulgaria. Egypt and Algeria are now among the 10 main buyers of Brazilian cattle beef. To Dubai, the Abiec established a partnership with the Brazilian Fruit Institute (Ibraf), which is going to supply various varieties of fruit juice during the workshop.
The fair, in turn, is going to include a 52-square-metre stand, which may be expanded to 84 square metres. At least eight companies of the 19 Abiec associates are going to participate, but, according to Andréa, the number may grow up to the date of the event.
Growing market
To evaluate the decision of investing in Dubai, the Abiec has prepared a study to show that sales to the Emirates have been growing significantly from year to year, both in terms of volume, and in terms of revenues. Last year, shipments of Brazilian cattle beef to the Arab country generated US$ 35.5 million, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, against US$ 20.4 million in 2005, US$ 16 million in 2004, US$ 11.2 million in 2003, US$ 5.8 million in 2002 and US$ 4 million in 2001.
According to the Abiec, in 2005 Brazil had 66% participation in imports of cattle beef by the Emirates, in terms of volume, and 42% in terms of revenues, being that in 2001, this participation was just 7% both in terms of quantity and in terms of revenues. The main Brazilian competitors are Australia, New Zealand, the United States, China and South Africa. Brazil is, however, the greatest world producers and exporter of cattle beef.
Apart from quality, the price is one of the great differentials of the Brazilian product. According to the Abiec, in 2005 the country exported frozen meat to the Emirates for US$ 2,574 per tonne, whereas the United States sold for US$ 7,556 per tonne and Australia for US$ 4,415. In the case of fresh or chilled beef, the average prices per tonne in 2005 were US$ 2,784 from Brazil, US$ 5,807 from New Zealand, US$ 7,709 from the United States and US$ 9,233 from Australia, according to the Abiec.
Showing figures compiled by the World Bank, the Abiec report recalls that the population of the Emirates rose from 3.2 million people in 2000 to 4.5 million in 2005, an increase that was followed by a strong growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and of per capita income. In the same sense, the local consumption of cattle beef rose from 13.7 kilograms per inhabitant in 1985 to 19.4 kilograms in 2004.
*Translated by Mark Ament
