Dubai – Brazilians that exhibited at Gulfood 2023 pointed out a higher diversity of nations visiting the show in search of business. Eleven companies participated in the spaces of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) at the trade show that took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, until Friday (24).
“It was impressive. Some people we had been trying to reach for quite some time simply showed up here at the stand. I was very glad. We even managed to break into countries we had been trying to and couldn’t find the right way,” Angélica Niero, Exports manager of Florestal Alimentos, said.
The whole line of the brand is halal certified, and it had received visits from African countries in previous editions of Gulfood, but this year it landed new deals “We’ve received some executives even from Somalia. I found it great. We’ve shipped to Djibouti before, but Somalia was proving to be very difficult. I also saw some people from Palestine who’ve become like family to us,” Niero pointed out.
For the first time at the event with the company Nad Al Shiba International General Trading L.L.C, the Commercial director of the company, Omar Khaled Hamaoui, has already done business in the show for years, but he was surprised with the amount of visitors this year. “The number of visitors and meetings was completely above our expectations. The demand we had for several of our products was well higher than we could have anticipated. We were visited by over 120 companies from different countries in Africa and Asia. We had people from Bangladesh, Singapura, Malaysia. From the Middle East, we had Syria, Lebanon. Not to mention the volume of orders from the African continent,” he said.
Hamaoui explained that the orders received were already confirmed. “Now we’ll move on to the document and contract part, the execution itself. They’re already firm orders, all of which required two to four meetings to reach a deal. It was completely positive,” he said. Out of the goods sold by the trading firm, sugar was the most sought after, followed by soybean meal.
He said that over 50% of the markets the brand made deals and had meetings with are new. “I strongly recommend that those who contemplate expanding seek to join Gulfood as the exposure of the company and products reaches an unprecedented scale for those who usually work in the Latin American market alone, for example,” said the businessman, who bets of Africa as the most promising market.
Pantanal General Trading brought its commodity-focused brand Pantanal Coffee this year. “Pantanal Coffee focuses on large shipments. At Gulfood, we received many people from the Gulf, which is our focus, and we wanted to enter the Middle East market, too. But we received demands from elsewhere, even Italy,” Júlia Maria do Prado Martins, manager of the Pantanal Trading office in Dubai, said. The buyers mainly sought the raw bean known as green coffee. In signed deals only, the brand calculated some 18 meetings.
The diversity of contracts was exactly what NPZanchetta was looking for. The cereal brand is focused on countries outside the UAE region like North African and Asian nations. “It was a very good show for us. At Gulfood, we’ve closed [some deals to ship] containers to various countries. It was well above our expectations. Our goal at the show was met, with many deals, a lot of new clients. We’ve resumed business with buyers we’d already met. It was all very relevant,” William Nunes, the brand’s Foreign Trade executive, said.
Meat brands like Dinda showcased their portfolio in the ABCC stand, too. “We’ve come to seek out new clients and meet current clients as well. It was a great show. I believe the greatest change that made it a good event from the start is that it began on a Monday this time. Everyone saw the difference this time as it was packed from the outset. It’s a very important show for us as our largest market is Africa, and every large company in Africa has an office in Dubai nowadays,” Marcelo Turri, Export director of Dinda, said.
ABCC secretary-general & CEO Tamer Mansour believes the event brough good prospects for Brazilian businesspeople. “It was record-breaking, particularly with regard to the participation of the Chamber, which started operating in the Beef & Poultry pavilion, too. It was a huge success, so I expect that we come with even more companies and stands. It was a great job by the Chamber’s team,” he pointed out. The entity organized two spaces for Brazilian exhibitors at Gulfood, one in the Hall 2 and the other in the Beef & Poultry Pavilion.
Mansour also pointed out the importance of the Halal do Brasil project in the show. “We had an amazing feedback from both companies and visitors. It was very well received by international think tanks and certifiers, too, and I believe we’ll have plenty of opportunities to further expand our halal brand into the Arab and Islamic market,” he finished. The project, aimed at expanding the Brazilian halal food supply to the global market, held two activities during the show.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
