São Paulo – The second day of the Buyer Project in the food sector, promoted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, at the organisation’s offices, guaranteed excellent contacts and business opportunities for Brazilian and Arab businessmen. Some contacts advanced more, as was the case with New Milllen, which processes dehydrated food and on Thursday (27) should meet with one of the executives at Binca International, a German company with a branch in the United Arab Emirates, responsible for the distribution of foods to Emirates Catering, in the aviation sector, and Jumeirah Group, which manages hotels.
The export manager at New Millen, Luis Fernando Martinez, spoke to the director at Binca, Deepak Nayya, on Wednesday (26) morning. "He liked our products so much that he said he would like to visit our factory in Cajamar tomorrow,” said Martinez. "He plans to buy large volumes and we may even process under the importer’s brand,” said the businessman.
New Millen, established 26 years ago, started its internationalisation process five years ago. It already exports to China, Panama and Germany and now is getting ready to enter the Arab world. Last year, the company participated in Agrofood, in Saudi Arabia, and in early 2010, in the Gulfood, in Dubai. The contacts established at the fair have already become business. "We developed an energy drink for a large sports product distributor for football teams and gyms and the beverage is currently in testing phases,” he said.
"I am very pleased with the contacts established during the two days and want to proceed with negotiations and establish long-term contracts with several Brazilian companies,” said Nayya. Apart from Binca, the Arab companies present are Alsaeed Trading, from Yemen, and Numidis, a branch of Algerian group Cevital.
The international business manager at Alsaeed, Mohammed Faroq, was very interested in tomato source and maize made by the Brazilian Brasfrigo, which owns brands Jurema and Predilecta, and also in the sardines processed by Pepsico, which owns brands Pepsi, Elma Chips, Coqueiro, Toddy, Quaker and Gatorade.
"I am taking samples of the products that interested me the most and plan to proceed with business as soon as I return from Yemen,” said Faroq. Among the contacts established on Tuesday afternoon, the businessman pointed out the sweets by Boavistense, which has a factory in Lajeado, in Rio Grande do Sul. The director general at Numidis, Samir Baziz, also made a very positive evaluation of the meetings and pointed out the interest in coffee, preserves and biscuits.
Among the Brazilian companies that participated in the roundtables was Café Pelé, which has been exporting to most Arab countries for over 15 years and wants to expand clients in the region. "The representatives of Binca and Numidis were the most interested. We are already in the Emirates, but the market in Algeria needs to be won,” said export manager Argélia Andrade.
Nicolini, which owns a slaughterhouse in Nova Araçá, in Rio Grande do Sul, and participated in the first phase of the food sector Buyer Project, in early May, considered these roundtables more productive. "The Binca representative showed great interest in starting work in partnership with the Emirates,” said export manager Fabricio Bucchese. Nicolini already turns 75% of foreign sales of frozen chicken to the Arab countries, mainly Iraq, Kuwait and the Emirates.
*Translated by Mark Ament
