São Paulo – Brazil’s Baldoni, a producer of honey, propolis, and jams, seeks to enter the Arab market. For this goal, the company has already obtained halal certification for its main product, honey. Halal guarantees a product follows Islamic precepts and therefore is allowed for consumption by Muslims. The certificate was provided to the company by SIILHalal, a certifier based in Chapecó, Santa Catarina.
With 38 years of experience in the sector, Baldoni has been exporting for four years and already has customers in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. “In Europe, we are developing distribution points. We are expanding, and our focus for 2022 is the Arab market, which is why we sought halal certification,” said to ANBA the head of institutional sales, exports, and e-commerce at Baldoni, Cecília Solano.
In the beginning, the brand was small and restricted to Brazil’s countryside; nowadays, it seeks the development of new products. “Baldoni became professional; we work with innovation starting from the packaging. The brand has been improving and expanding towards a different portfolio. We have recently launched Proprion Defense, a propolis supplement. We also have chocolate filled with jam, which is 70% fruit, 30% honey. Our focus is on innovating, nurturing, and caring,” highlighted Solano.
With a factory in Campinas and an office in São Paulo, the brand has beehives on farms throughout the interior of the state of São Paulo and in the Northeast region of Brazil. Heading to the Middle East, the executive already has some strategies in mind. “We want to enter the UAE, and we have been prospecting Saudi Arabia. But, of course, we are open to all Arab countries, and even within Brazil, we can take the product with certification to the Muslim public,” she stated.
Honey itself is a natural product, but adjustments were needed in the plant to obtain the certification. “Quality staff took care of this. An example of minor adjustments concerned the grease we used to make the gears work at the factory, as some were not halal. It is a very demanding [certification], and it better be. What I saw in the three days of the Global Halal Brazil forum was the issue of reliability. And having trust in the product involves doing it right, meeting the needs of the most demanding customers,” defended the executive. The forum was the first in the country focused on halal and occurred from December 6 to 8.
In addition to the honey line, the brand is in the process of certifying propolis and expects, in the future, to also certify jam and chocolate. The industry’s certification is related to honey as a food, but Solano explains the product and its derivatives are usually sold in drugstores due to their health properties.
On the farms, Baldoni produces 1,000 tonnes of honey and, according to Solano, the company has grown tenfold in the last four years. With the opening of new markets, the brand hopes to triple its revenue. According to Solano, “the goal is to expand in the international market through retail, foodservice, and pharmaceutical distributors.”
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
