Dubai – Company representatives who participated in the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) mission to the Middle East are optimistic regarding the result of meetings with Arab businessmen. On Tuesday (15), they participated in business roundtables in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. In the two previous days, the delegation was in Saudi Arabia.
"In Saudi Arabia it was very good, we made many contacts and expect to sign a contract with a local distributor,” said the commercial director of Clap Foods, Ronaldo Evelande. The company from Luz, in Minas Gerais, makes frozen food like pancakes, chicken thigh cakes, kibbehs, pizzas, lasagne and cheese bread.
Industry does not yet export to the region, but has prepared itself well, seeking halal certification for its products, which guarantees that they produce in accordance with Islamic tradition, and have translated their packages into Arabic. "We are prepared for the event,” pointed out the executive.
The company is going to exhibit at Gulfood, the food sector fair to begin in Dubai on the 19th. "We invited the interested buyers to visit our stand,” added the international trade assistant at the company, Camila Osório.
Another brand that wants to sell on the Arab market is Café Fazenda Caeté, from Campo Belo, also in Minas Gerais. The company is promoting an exclusive product, toasted and ground coffee in bags, as if it were tea. "We believe that the culture of infusion is widespread here,” said the commercial director at the company, Fernando Reis Costa. In fact, the Arabs drink much tea.
Apart from that, Costa pointed out that coffee consumption is very high and that the market is not as competitive as that of the United States, with which the company has just closed its first export contract. "It is one more alternative for sales of our product in the world,” he declared.
He believes that coffee in bags may be very useful for hotels and airlines, replacing soluble coffee, and guaranteed that the product generated much interest among potential buyers. “It fascinates due to its simplicity,” he said.
Another company from Minas, Abanorte, which exports fruit, also wants to start selling to the Middle East. According to the company’s commercial director, Cristiano Glória, the organisation can currently sell limes, mangoes and banana sweet in bars, but that she also saw opportunities for oranges and mashed fruit for juice production.
Abanorte exports to Europe. "We want to expand the market not to depend solely on European markets,” said the executive, who is seeking an importer and distributor.
Among the companies that already operate in the Arab world, Gomes da Costa, of fish, aims to expand its presence in the market. According to the export manager at the company, Dario Chemerinski, in Saudi Arabia the idea is to find a partner with great penetration in the country that may become an exclusive brand distributor. “After this mission I am going to find a great group with penetration,” he said.
In this work, the company has some trumps: experience and good acceptance in other countries in the region, packages in Arabic and Dario himself, who has been studying the language for a year and a half and is already capable of conversing in it. According to him, this helps create empathy with potential business partners.
In Dubai, Gomes da Costa seeks a new distributor, as the current one, according to Chemerinski, has not reached company expectations. "We want someone more aggressive in the market,” he pointed out, adding that with each mission the interest in company products rises.
Another veteran, Chocolates Garoto, is seeking a distributor with a different profile. The factory already supplies to great supermarket chains in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, but now aims to reach smaller points of sale, like greengrocers and convenience stores at petrol stations. "I believe this could result in great growth [in sales]," said Alain Whebe, the company’s manager for the Middle East and other regions.
He said that exports to the Arab world are growing on average 5% to 6% a year. In the Emirates, Whebe considered the contacts good. In Saudi Arabia, not so much.
Many of the food sector companies that are participating in the mission are going to exhibit at Gulfood. Before, however, they will have one more day of business roundtables in Dubai.
*Translated by Mark Ament
