São Paulo – Two Brazilian companies that participated in the Food Africa trade show in the Egyptian capital of Cairo closed three deals each. Rauscher Commodities Traders took coffee and black pepper, while Popcorn took popcorn and sesame to the stand organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Brazil’s embassy in Cairo. Food Africa is the continent’s most important food trade show and ran till this Wednesday (11).
The trading company’s exports manager Bruna Rauscher told ANBA that the event exceeded their expectations. “We were the only ones representing Brazil’s coffee and black pepper here in Food Africa, so we had a great turnover at the stand during the three days. We worked non-stop and made many new connections, definitely over fifty,” she reported.
Rauscher has operated in Egypt for three years and now serves six plants in the Arab country. At the show, three new coffee and black pepper deals were closed, and around ten containers are expected to be exported. “Our clients came visit us here at the stand. I believe Arab Chamber’s visibility is great. The space had a great turnout and brought credibility for us traders announcing Brazilian products,” the executive said.
Popcorn commercial manager Paula Gobbi told ANBA that three popcorn and sesame deals were closed with Egyptian companies, and they expect to close another eight by the end of the trip. Many potential clients were prospected, around 100 connections. At the show, the company’s representatives could meet in person some clients from Egypt, Turkey and Israel that they’d already worked with and visited Food Africa.
“We closed deals for popcorn with potential buyer companies we had heard of but only had the chance to close a deal with them here at the show. We ended up finishing some of the key points to negotiate with these companies by sitting across each other. And we’ve scheduled three meetings for tomorrow (Thursday) to talk to companies that own plants here in Cairo and exhibited at the show, and we expect to close deals with them too,” she reported.
Gobbi said that the company has the chance to break into Egypt’s sesame market. “It’s a product that Egypt usually buys from other producers in Sudan and India; we brought and showcased Brazilian sesame, and they really liked it and got very interested. Some are supposed to close deals soon,” she pondered.
She considered participating in Food Africa was really worthy it. “Egypt’s is a very populated country and has a great demand for food products,” she said.
Arab Chamber events coordinator Tâmara Machado said the show was excellent. “Brazil’s participation was quite promising. We were visited by over 150 companies interested in buying from Brazil or exporting to Brazil, and all visitors showed interested in becoming Arab Chamber members,” she said.
This Wednesday, the stand was visited by Brazil’s embassy minister-counsellor Rubem Mendes de Oliveira and agricultural attaché Cesar Simas Teles. “The show was excellent; 99% of the public is Egyptian – we were also visited by some companies from Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but the bulk is Egyptian, which is a very big market, especially for Brazil. We’re already planning our participation in 2020 and hope to reap some good benefits,” Machado finished.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
