Dubai – In the food sector, companies participating in the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) delegation to the Middle East believe that contacts made should become orders after Gulfood, a sector fair to take place in Dubai next week. The delegation’s programme, which had the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, ended on Thursday (21), in the emirate.
Millen International, for example, received importers interested in wafers, filled biscuits and pretzels. “We have concrete perspectives for export to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, in at least three cases there are enormous [business] possibilities to be completed,” said Gilberto Millen, the company owner.
In the same line, Sérgio Nunes, from Amazônia Energy, bets he will receive orders for assai and Amazon fruit ice cream. “We received good contacts from Kuwait, Jordan and the Emirates, which can really generate business. It depends on client tasting [the product] at the fair, and there we can complete what we started here,” he said. As it treats products that need cooling, samples will only be available at Gulfood.
Nunes has a partner in Kuwait – businessman Sabah Al-Sabah, from company Braz Foods, to which he already sells. Speaking a Portuguese and Spanish pidgin (Portunhol), Sabah participated in the delegation dressed in style, bringing the Brazilian group an Arab accent, which also counted on the Lebanese Alain Whebe, from Chocolates Garoto. Humorous, the Kuwaiti became friends with a significant part of the delegation.
Fernando Reis Costa, the commercial director at Fazenda Caeté, which sells roasted and ground coffee in bags, like teabags, said that the product generated great interest, but added that, as it is a novelty, making the product grow abroad should take some time. He bets on the generation of business results due to his meeting with the Spinney’s supermarket representative, with whom his first contact was made at an event promoted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber last year, in São Paulo.
The company has already sold lots for tests in hotels in Dubai, including the Hilton and Fairmont, where, according to Costa, the product was well accepted. “Our difficulty is distribution, we need to have a company behind us,” he said.
MBR, an exporter of food, also made a positive evaluation of the roundtables. According to Vanessa Costa, who works with the company representative in the Middle East, Aldo Novaes Labaki, there were meetings with importers with great buying potential. The company offers fruit and vegetables, industrialized food, cheese, juice, almonds and nuts, among other products.
According to her, MBR already exports food and apples to the Emirates. The products that attracted the greatest interest in the mission were fresh fruit, concentrated juice, maize flour, liquid eggs for industrial use and cheese.
Paulo Bergamaschi, from Bel International, an exporter and importer, stated that there was significant demand for canned meats and rice. In the second case, he said that the Brazilian price is not very competitive, but that in corned beef he expects to close deals.
Magali Rovaroto, from trading company Columbia, pointed out that he arrived in the Emirates with some closed deals and that the roundtables attracted more people than forecasted in the agenda. To her, chances are great for further sales of chicken and beef.
*Translated by Mark Ament
