São Paulo – The Brazilian stand at the Big 5 fair, in Dubai, will feature eight companies from industries such as stones, frames, padlocks and electrical equipment. The Big 5 is the Middle East’s leading construction industry fair and will take place from the 17th to the 20th this month. The Brazilian stand at the fair spans 120 square metres and is organized in partnership between the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
The Arab Chamber’s CEO Michel Alaby said that this year, Brazilian companies will be in the ornamental rocks and stones pavilion, a busier area than in prior editions, inside the Dubai World Trade Centre exhibition venue. “In the past, we had less visits in our sector because there were less people passing through. Now, we can do more business because there will be more importers around. There is a heavy influx of visitors from companies seeking all sorts of items,” said Alaby, who met with the fair’s organizers to find a better location for Brazilian businesses.
Apex-Brasil projects manager Rafael Gratão claims the agency is expecting the new area to provide greater visibility to exhibitors of stones and other products at the fair. “Our expectations for the Brazilian participation this year is very favourable, even more so than in 2013 and the years before. There are new possibilities in sight, in addition to the opportunity to cement our relations with customers and complete negotiations that started last year,” he said. Gratão remarked that the emirate of Dubai is overcoming the 2008 crisis and that stimuli are available to the civil construction industry. “We may even encourage new companies to participate,” he said, referring to future editions of the event.
Companies participating in the fair include Pettrus, Marbrasa, Gail and Summit, which deal in stones; Ceusa, for ceramic tiles; Pado, for door locks and padlocks; Fame, for electrical equipment; and Real Esquadrias, for frames.
This will be the third time at the event for Pettrus. The company is taking up three stands and hopes to expand in the region and strike deals during the fair. Pettrus CEO Maxwell Alcântara says the company has prepared itself beforehand in order to break into the Middle East market. He first started visiting the Big 5 in 2005, then became a member of the Arab Chamber and exhibited at the fair for the first time in 2012. Alcântara returned to Dubai in early 2013 and then once again late last year, to exhibit anew at the Big 5. Now, he is attending the event again, and making ever-bigger wagers on the local market.
“I have no doubt that our participation this year will be better than it was in past editions, because we will be in the area of the fair allocated to our own industry, and we will have a chance to show our product to clients who are looking for stones,” he says. Pettrus has a representative in Dubai who serves the entire Gulf region. However, the company’s business in the region remains primarily focused on Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The executive explains that his contracts with local buyers are not for large purchases, because he works with exotic stones often used in decoration.
“Our clients in that region are very fond of white, brown and green stones. They say they cannot find this white quartz anywhere else in the world,” says Alcântara. The stones Pettrus sells are extracted from deposits in the Brazilian state of Bahia and then processed in Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, in the state of Espírito Santo, before being exported.
Hot water
The electrical equipment manufacturing company Fame is betting on clients from African countries. According to Maria Prado, a trader for Fame, this is the first time the company is going to the Big 5. “Our goal is to reach African customers, because the suppliers in Dubai sell to Africa.”
Prado explains that the goal is not to sell to Gulf countries, since they use gas-heated shower water, which is very low cost. In Africa, gas is not as widespread as in the Gulf, so people still need to take cold showers.
“We are exhibiting electrical shower heads at the fair. It is a unique product, invented in Brazil and manufactured in large scale here. It is the cheapest system in the world for heating up water, and it’s easy to install. In poor countries, the water is cold and electric showers are successful in these places,” he says.
This is also Real Esquadrias’ first time at the Big 5. The company’s Export manager, Gustavo Ludwig, says the company plans on stepping up its foreign sales and has already been contacted by potential Arab clients. The goal is to raise the share of exports in total revenues from 5% to 30% in two years.
“We are going to meet clients, enter the market, introduce our brand and increase our exports. We have received orders from the region in the past and we know there is potential. Currently, we sell to South America and the United States, and we are aware that this fair is attended by major players from the Gulf and from Africa,” said Ludwig, who is showcasing a line of solid wood doors at the Big 5.
Service:
Big 5 fair
November 17th to 20th
Dubai – United Arab Emirates
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
