Omar Nasser, from Fiep*
Curitiba – Cerâmica Oxford, one of the main ceramics industries in Latin America, wants to enter 2005 expanding sales to the Arab countries. In March the company will ship the first order to Saudi Arabia. A total of four 40-foot containers will be shipped, containing 190,000 products, among them plates, soup bowls, cups and saucers. The sale totals US$ 115,000. Shipping is in its final stages of bureaucratic organization.
The proposal is to adopt a more aggressive strategy with regard to the Middle East and North Africa. The company intends to add new markets to its traditional partners in the region, among them Lebanon. Apart from Saudi Arabia, other countries targeted by Oxford are Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait, among others.
"The potential of the Middle Easter market is very large," stated Sami Omairy, who was hired to take care, mainly, of commercial relations with the countries in the region. Exports to the region had already taken place, but sporadically, through an agent in São Paulo.
Located in the city of São Bento do Sul, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, Oxford has a productive capacity of 48 million pieces a year. The industrial park counts on an area of 55,000 square metres and has 1,023 employees. The company exports to 90 countries. Sales abroad generate around US$ 10 million a year.
*Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná. Translated by Mark Ament
