São Paulo – Placing a traditional Brazilian snack, cheese bread, on Arab tables is one of the targets of Laticínios Condessa, a dairy company that owns brand Forno de Minas. After a period of transmission of management, the company wants to take steps on the foreign market again, and the Arab countries are among the targets for export of their products.
“We are interested and are seeking distributors and buyers. We need a way in,” said Renato Castro, the export coordinator at the company. According to him, the company is already prospecting entry into another ten countries, like the United States, Canada, Germany and other European nations.
Castro hopes to receive contacts from the Arab countries to start sales in the region. “We have capacity to supply the foreign market demand”, he explained. The company produces between 650 and 700 tonnes of cheese bread a month, but production may reach up to 1,600 tonnes per month.
The executive believes that as the product is typically Brazilian it may attract attention on the foreign market. He mentions the qualities of the product, among them a large level of cheese, lack of preservatives and being gluten-free. “The product is appealing to all markets,” he said. “The raw materials are carefully tracked to their origins,” he added.
An important factor to be pointed out here is halal certification of the cheese from which the cheese bread is made. Condessa dairy, which supplies the cheese for production of the bread, has halal certification for several cheeses, namely cheddar, mozzarella, minas, parmesan, curds, goya and prato (a cheese similar to the Danish Danbo cheese).
Currently, Condessa dairy has 380 employees and has been increasing sales of brand Forno de Minas by around 10% a month. Expectations up to the end of the year are for sales to reach 1,000 tonnes a month. The company also has SIF International and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) certification.
Contact
Laticínios Condessa
Tel: (+55 31) 9224-1881
E-mail: renato.castro@fornodeminas.com.br
Site: www.laticinioscondessa.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
