São Paulo – Brazilian food companies are in the United Arab Emirates exhibiting at SIAL Middle East 2019. The trade show started on the 9th and runs till Wednesday (11) in Abu Dhabi, bringing together 15 brands in Brazil’s pavilion. The space is organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MER) and Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
The companies include Wenzel’s Apicultura, which sells and exports organic honey produced in Brazilian Northeast. The company had already participated in SIAL Paris and this is its first time exhibiting at Abu Dhabi edition. “Our interest in the Arab market is latent. It’s been a while that we want to export here. We had been focused on the American and European market, but we need to diversify,” Grupo Wenzel CEO Thiago Gama told ANBA.
For Gama, the UAE region is interesting since it has a market where you can sell added-value products. “We’ve searched it for packaged honey and finished products. It’s a market where we’re only starting but has a huge potential,” he stressed.
The company works with honey in bulk and finished packages. Among the main connections made at the fair so far, the CEO highlighted companies based in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Egypt. At the show, the expectation is seizing opportunities to connect with distributors and possibly direct exports. “The two [first] days were great, but it’s a process, a path to build. We had around 18 productive meetings that are well on their way,” explained Gama.
The Brazilian space also features Alca Foods, an exporter of products such as breakfast cereal and chocolate milk; Santa Monica Café Gourmet, focused on organic coffee products; Shinoda Alimentos, which exports products such as frozen liquid eggs pasteurized and powdered eggs; Florestal Alimentos S.A., an exporter of lollipops and candies, Fruteiro do Brasil, a company that exports frozen fruit pulps such as açaí and mango; Irmãos Trevisan, which exports rice; ALM Brasil that exports items such as black pepper, tapioca and honey; and Brazil & You – Cavalcante Agroexports, which works with roasted coffee beans, ground coffee and instant coffee.
To promote the Brazilian products, Brazil’s pavilion is cooking and serving dishes with ingredients by the exhibiting companies. Besides exhibiting at the show, the Brazilians participated in a seminar coordinated by Apex-Brasil business office in Dubai about the local market and the region’s potentials, particularities and ways to access it.
The mission is also supported by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, whose office in Dubai helped in scheduling two technical visits on the 12th. The opportunities are for five coffee companies and include visits to supermarket and distribution chains.
The 2018 SIAL Middle East yielded at least 135 deals worthy of AED 7 billion (USD 1.9 billion). Last year edition saw 20,000 visitors and 1,000 exhibitors from 42 countries.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda