São Paulo – Foreign businessmen are going to participate in Minas Láctea fair, to take place from June 16th to 18th, in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, in an action by the Sector Project for Promotion of Dairy Product Exports (PS-Lácteos). The initiative is aimed at promoting foreign sales of the Brazilian dairy industry and will bring to the fair buyers from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq and Venezuela. Around 10 buyers are expected.
“We developed a market study and identified that these countries, apart from being producers of oil, consume much produce from abroad, mainly food,” explained Bernhard Smid, Foreign Trade manager at PS-Lácteos, responsible for trade promotion of the project.
Established in February, the PS-Lácteos is a partnership between the OCB and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), with support from the Ministry of Agrarian Development, for internationalisation of dairy industry products. “This is the first large activity to be developed by the project,” said Smid. The programme includes 11 companies and cooperatives in the state of Paraná, Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo and Goiás.
At the fair, foreign buyers should participate in business roundtables with members of the project, as well as other activities. “A workshop should present what Brazil is, the opportunities and the demand in the country. It will also show Brazilian production,” pointed out the OCB executive. The activity agenda is still under development, but should also include a visit to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), whose dairy production unit is in Juiz de Fora.
According to Smid, the products most exported by the dairy industry are powdered milk and yoghourt. With investment of R$ 2.3 million (US$ 1.15 million), the PS-Lácteos hopes to increase sector exports by 30% by 2014. Last year, the sector exported 43,100 tonnes in products and had revenues of US$ 119.6 million. For this year, said the OCB executive, the forecast is for growth of 10% over 2012.
Apart from buyers, the project should also bring journalists from the countries selected to participate in activities and learn about the dairy industry.
*Translated by Mark Ament
