Randa Achmawi*
Cairo – In the second day of Cairo International Fair, the stand and representatives of the Brazilian Halal Food Centre (Cibal) were the Brazilian exhibitors that attracted the greatest attention. The company manages halal slaughter within Brazilian slaughterhouses that export cattle beef and poultry to Egypt and other Arab countries. The company works in partnership with the Brazilian Beef Industry and Exporters Association (Abiec). Egypt is the second main market for Brazilian cattle beef, only losing to Russia.
"The relations (of visitors) is natural, as Brazilian meat has already found a prominent space in the Egyptian market, enough to make the public associate the name of Brazil to meat," stated Mohsen Rizk, a businessman who hoped to learn more about how to import meat from Brazil. According to him, the Egyptians, who normally do not trust imported meat, are already convinced that Brazilian meat is good and prepared respecting the rituals required by the Islamic religion.
To Tamer Mansur, the general supervisor at Cibal, many efforts must be made by Brazilians to preserve the space that has been won in the Egyptian market in recent years. "The Indians started exporting in the last two months, buffalo meat, at very competitive prices," he said.
According to Tamer, the quality of the Indian products is lower than that of the Brazilian meat. "Of course everybody knows the quality of Brazilian beef, which is the best in the world, but we are here to keep our friendship with the Egyptians, as we have already done in recent years," he said. He added that the Brazilians are going to seek a trade and sanitary agreement between Egypt and Brazil to reduce the prices of Brazilian beef on the Egyptian market and make it more competitive with regard to the Indian product.
According to Tamer, the Cibal representatives are going to participate in meetings with a sanitary commission from the Ministry of Agriculture and of the Ministry of Trade of Egypt, with members of the Egyptian association of importers of meats and are also going to have dinner with representatives of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and of the Brazilian embassy in Cairo.
At the Brasfoods and Peppertrade Board stand, the business also advanced. In the first day of the event both companies have already closed deals for the value of US$ 300,000. "We are already prepared to close deals of over US$ 400,000 in coming days. We have been exporting to Egypt for fifteen years and from here our products are redistributed throughout the region. But the fair was undoubtedly a point of support to our work," stated the Brasfoods representative, José Tarcisio Malacarne.
According to him, the forecasted sales include 150 tonnes of black pepper and 15 tonnes of pink pepper. "We should also sell 600 tonnes of coffee and there is a possibility of also closing deals that include the sale of over 100 tonnes of nuts," he declared.
At the Arab Brazilian Chamber stand, 38 new contacts were established with companies interested in agricultural equipment, wood, manufactured food, raw meat, sugar, coffee and petrochemical products. Around 140 visitors went to the Brazilian stand during the day yesterday.
*Translated by Mark Ament
