Alexandre Rocha, special envoy*
Algiers – Neobus, a maker of bus bodies from the city of Caxias do Sul, in the interior of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, will soon have a factory in Algiers. The company assembly line, the result of a partnership with Algerian company ACT, should start operating April or May next year, and should initially produce five vehicles a day. The disassembled buses will be exported from Brazil.
According to the Neobus export manager, Itacir Orsso, the company from Rio Grande do Sul is going to invest US$ 6 million in the business in the next five years. “We are going to provide the technology and the training,” he declared. ACT, which is part of Algerian group Cevital, is going to provide the infrastructure and the personnel.
Apart from Algeria, Neobus has a similar unit in Mexico, plans to open another in Morocco in the near future, and is studying similar possibilities in Venezuela, Ecuador and Jordan. The advantage, according to Orsso, is that taxes are lower on the import of disassembled kits than on ready vehicles.
In all, according to Orsso, the company from Rio Grande do Sul produces 16 units a day and exports 30%. Revenues are around US$ 81 million.
Job generation
Neobus already has an example to mirror itself on. This half, another factory from Caxias do Sul, Randon, which produces trailers and semi trailers, started a similar operation in Algiers, also in partnership with Cevital. The company, which belongs to businessman Rebrab Issad, is the main private group in Algeria and operates in various sectors.
Yesterday (20), the minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, Luiz Fernando Furlan, visited the Cevital installations, including the Randon assembly line and the site where the future installations of Neobus will be. This was the first engagement of the two-day trade mission he is heading to the country in North Africa.
In the case of Randon, according to the company corporate director, Erino Tonon, production should reach 1,600 semi trailers a year. The business generates 170 jobs in Algiers and another 80 should be generated in the near future.
The company already has similar operations in Morocco, where it produces 200 units a year. In all, Randon produces 16,000 units a year in all its factories, being 20% exported. The company forecasts revenues of US$ 1 billion this year.
More partnerships
Accompanied by the minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil, Silas Rondeau, Furlan stated that he hopes this trade mission, which includes around 50 representatives from various sectors, may help promote the diversification of business between Brazil and Algeria. “Not only when thinking of sales, but also regarding partnerships,” he said. “As is the case with this local company and Randon,” he added.
Furlan pointed out that the economy of the Arab country is growing “vigorously” and, one of his and Rondeau’s objectives, is to “power” a series of agreements signed in the past, including one for cooperation between Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and Algerian oil company Sonatrach, signed in 2003, when Dilma Roussef, then minister of Mines and Energy, visited the country.
Beside him, Rebrab Issad pointed out that his country is going to invest US$ 60 billion in a series of sectors in the next five years, as recently published by ANBA. “In Algeria, everything has to be done. We need great Brazilian companies that may operate in the country together with local companies, for the good of both countries,” he stated. “Algeria is practically like the Amazon, it is virgin in everything,” he joked.
Rondeau added that at least US$ 12 billion should be invested in the oil, electric energy and mining sectors, according to him, areas of interest to Brazil. “This is an important opportunity for companies in the energy, oil and mining sectors,” he said.
Today there will be a seminar about foreign trade and investment in both countries. In the afternoon, Brazilian businessmen will participate in business roundtables with Algerian businessmen. Furlan and Rondeau will have bilateral meetings with authorities in the Arab country.
*Translated by Mark Ament
