São Paulo – Since 2011, the clinical foods manufacturer Prodiet, based in Brazil’s Paraná state, exports its products to Saudi Arabia. Now, the company is in talks to break into the markets of Jordan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Prodiet makes enteral nutrition foods, designed for patients recovering from surgery, undergoing oncological treatment, haemodialysis or diabetes sufferers, among others. The products may be ingested orally or via catheters.
Foreign Trade coordinator Alessandro Marinho explains that the company has an exclusivity contract with a distributor in Saudi Arabia who resells Prodiet’s products. “The end customers are hospitals and specialized stores and drugstores,” he says.
It was Saudi distributor himself who sought out Prodiet. According to Marinho, the company’s products “have been well accepted on the market.” Presently, the company ships product to the Gulf country on a monthly basis.
Marinho says the company’s sales to Saudi Arabia consist mostly of foodstuffs for diabetes, stomach irritation and patients recovering from cancer treatments.
Prodiet produces 350,000 litres of liquid foods and 40,000 jars and cans of powdered food per month, 5%% to 7% of which are exported. In addition to the Arab country, the company currently exports to Greece, but is expecting to increase its foreign sales.
According to the executive, Prodiet is working on entering countries in the Mercosur, Europe, Asia and Africa next year. The Saudi distributor himself is handling negotiations with Jordan, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar. The company ships its product in Arabic-labelled packaging.
“Demand is on the way up,” Marinho says about the market for clinical nutrition in Arab countries. “As soon as countries start paying attention to the well-being of their populations,” he says. The coordinator says the Middle East “is a region whose countries have a more global view. It will be a promising market in the future,” he believes.
Marinho explains that Prodiet’s foremost competitors on the clinical nutrition market are multinationals such as Nestlé and Danone. Prodiet outsources its manufacturing operations, but should build its own plant next year.
Prodiet is based in the Paraná state capital Curitiba, was founded in 2007 and has 50 employees.
Contact
Prodiet
Website: www.prodietnutricao.com.br
Email: export@prodiet.com.br
Telephone: +55 41 3342-2825
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
