São Paulo – IndusParquet, a manufacturer of flooring and wooden facing, has expanded its contract with a Lebanese dealer. The company will distribute further product lines. The agreement was closed during the Project Lebanon fair, in Beirut. The company is exhibiting at the building sector fair that began on Tuesday (04) and ends this Friday (07), in a pavilion organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy of Brazil in Lebanon.
"We signed a contract to sell the decorative line for walls and floors, finished at the factory," says Rodrigo Forte, a company salesperson. Forte points out that IndusParquet has had a dealer in Lebanon for four years, but that the store only sold one type of flooring made by the company, that used in wooden decks. "As it is a seaside town, there is large consumption of decks in Beirut," he said. "Customers from Egypt and Jordan, in turn [who were also at the fair] were more interested in flooring," he explained.
According to Forte, sales to Lebanon were more intense in 2007 and 2008, then, with the global economic crisis, things slowed down. To him, the fair is an opportunity to "renew" business in the country. "There is very strong acceptance of the Brazilian products," he said.
"It is great to make contact with people and to feel what is happening in the market," he says. According to the executive, the company’s showroom at the event is very busy. Apart from the products mentioned, IndusParquet, headquartered in Tietê, in southeastern Brazil, manufactures liners, parquet flooring and decorative inserts, among other kinds of facing.
To Henry Bou Saab, representative of Saniram, a company that sells Brazilian metal fittings, the fair is a good opportunity to exhibit brands in Lebanon. "Brazil is well known for its food exports. With the fair, Arabs can learn that the country also exports metal fittings and whirlpools. It’s a big change," he said. Saniram represents brands like Incepa, Tramontina, Celite, Logasa, Docol and Astra.
Also at the Brazilian pavilion are companies KRJ (electrical connectors), Imarfe (marble and granite), Astra (plastics and metals), Braseco (a building material trading company) and Arabian Mining Habre & Co. (an importer of Brazilian marble and granite).
On Tuesday, one of the vice-presidents of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon visited the Brazilian pavilion and talked to the Arab Chamber’s Marketing Vice President, Riad Younes. According Venancio Goulart, international business executive at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, they reinforced the terms of a cooperation agreement signed between the two organisations last year, to foster trade between Brazil and Lebanon.
In 2012, Brazil exported US$ 438,000 in building products to Lebanon. The main items sold were tiles and paving slabs, as well as pipes and fittings.
*Translated by Mark Ament
