Geovana Pagel
São Paulo – Another two Saudi businessmen visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB) stand at Cairo International Fair, on the last day of the event, which took place from March 16 to 26 in Egypt. The groups – Al Aidaroos and 3S Company – have their offices in Jeddah.
According to the CCAB secretary general, Michel Alaby, Al Aidaroos group, with annual revenues of around US$ 120 million, is interested in various Brazilian sectors, such as material, machinery and equipment for civil construction, and wooden furniture. Company director Ahmed Al-Aidaroos, sales director Mohamed Al Aidaroos, and sales consultant Labib Al Aidaroos visited the stand.
The other visit, according to Alaby, was specifically to plastics company Sansuy S.A., which was visited by Ali Mirza, director of 3S Company. According to the secretary general, 3S is interested in packaging material and material for warehouses, such as tarpaulins for silos.
Post Iraq
Sansuy presidency consultant Henri Coronfly stated that, during the two weeks of the fair, the company received various Arab businessmen. "We received importers from Jeddah and Riyadh, and another who came from Amman (Jordan)," he explained.
This was the second time Sansuy participated in Cairo Fair. "Last year, due to the war in Iraq, we were the only Brazilian company to participate in the Brazilian stand," explained the consultant.
The company, which, according to Coronfly, has been exporting to Saudi Arabia and to Jordan for some years, forecasts export increases to the region in 2004. "This year we should increase water bottle export to our customers in Saudi Arabia to over US$ 1 million," he stated.
Established in 1966, Sansuy is a Brazilian company, and is the Latin American leader in production of flexible PVC laminates used in the communications sectors, vehicles, sanitation, agribusiness, transport, and civil construction, among others.
The company has three industrial units (two in the southeastern state of São Paulo and another in the northeastern state of Bahia), with a total productive capacity of 35,000 tonnes per year, 1300 collaborators and revenues of US$ 90 million per year.
Brazil at the fair
The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce has had a Brazilian stand at Cairo International Fair since 1997. This year, the company space at the fair included five companies: apart from Sansuy, Tigre, a PVC pipe and connection maker, Criogen, which produces tanks and containers for compressed and liquefied gas, Ataforma, moulds, extractors, and stick aligners for popsicles, and shoe maker Calçados Klin, were also present.
In the ten days of the event, importers from Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Libya, Russia, India, Sudan, and Morocco visited the CCAB stand.
Brazil was also represented by an exclusive stand organized by the Brazilian Zebu Breeders Association (ABCZ). With the support of the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex), the organization not only participated in the fair, but also took information about Brazilian cattle to a genetic research institute and to universities in the Arab country.
Profile of the event
Cairo International Fair is considered the largest business event in Egypt, and also an important source of publicity for Brazil in the Arab country, currently the second largest economy in the Arab world, and is the main market for Brazilian products in the region.
The event is turned to the product and service trade, including construction material, clocks, computers, cosmetics, electronic products, shoes, furniture, gifts, jewellery, decoration items, leather products, pharmaceutical products, plastics, rubber, sports goods, agricultural machinery, equipment, and auto parts.
In 2003, the fair included the participation of 60 countries, among them Brazil, Germany, Holland, Italy, South Korea, Spain, and the United States, totalling 4,000 Egyptian, and 2,000 foreign companies, with a public greater than 1 million visitors.
In 2004, around 80 countries participated in the fair, in an area of 412,000 square metres. The next edition of the fair is going to take place between March 15 and 25, 2005.
