São Paulo – Food industry show SIAL Middle East ended this Wednesday (11), and the Brazilian participation yielded good results. So said Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply Foreign Investment and Cooperation coordinator general Rodrigo da Matta. Exhibitors gave a positive overview. This show is a bit unique, because it doesn’t get such strong visitor numbers, but what you get is high-level contacts. They said they make really great contacts that will always lead to deals,” Matta told ANBA.
Fifteen Brazilian companies joined the show as part of a mission organized by the Agriculture Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil). Coffee and cereal companies stood apart – the former due to the number of enterprises: four out of 15; the latter, for its innovation.
Two products by company Alca Foods got nominated for the SIAL Innovation Awards. The company makes morning cereals, cereal bars, chocolate powder mix and porridge. The nominated items were a protein bar which comes in three versions – egg white, milk and vegan rice-and-pea protein – and a vasodilating cereal bar made from beets and sesame.
Alca Foods commercial director Roberval Dias Martins said the visits were high level. “The show was great. The stand got lots of visitors. We made about 20 contacts and I could tell they had quality. About two thirds of them will yield results. This show was a fortunate surprise, because I wasn’t aware of it and didn’t expect such a select group of people, of buyers. Since our prices are very competitive, people were very enthusiastic about our product,” he said.
The company intends to get into the markets of the UAE as well as nearby Asian countries. “Twelve of our contacts were people from countries within a 6-hour radius from here,” explained Martins.
The brand supplies cereal in bulk as well as packaged, and it plans to reach more and more people. “The idea is to supply quality cereal at affordable prices so that more people can have them,” he said. Alca Foods sees 15% to 20% growth each year, with exports accounting for under 5% of sales. This, believes Martins, shows that the company has a lot of headroom to grow.
As for the coffee industry, Brazilian brands Santa Monica Café Gourmet, DBarbosa Coffee, Millen Comercial, and Brazil & You – Cavalcante Agroexports will join a technical visit to places including the DMCC Coffee Centre in Dubai this Thursday (12). The visit was organized by Apex’s office in Dubai.
The other participating Brazilian companies will make technical visits to the LuLu Hypermarket and to Abu Dhabi distributing company Aramtec, with support from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. Apart from SIAL Middle East, the Brazilian executives attended a seminar on the region’s market, distribution, logistics and marketing on Sunday (8).
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
