São Paulo – Middle East Stone, the industry show in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, ended this Thursday (6) with deals exceeding USD 1 million for Brazilian exhibiting companies. Over the next 12 months, sales are expected to fetch as much as USD 5.8 million. The show had less, but better visitors than last year.
“Although the event’s date was better this year – last year it took place during Ramadan –, visitor numbers decreased. We made about 30 contacts,” said Henrique Tyrone Barbosa Macedo, the CEO of Marcel Group, one of 19 Brazilian stone companies featured in the Brazilian pavilion at the expo – which was organized by the Brazilian Dimension Stone Industry Association (Abirochas), in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
According to Macedo, Arab visitors at the show showed keen interest in granite for major projects or interior decoration, more specifically models including Giallo Fiorito, Soft Yellow, Sand River, White Spring and San Rafael Black. “We have made sales to some companies in the UAE about four years ago. Even though turnout was weaker than expected, I believe the fair will enable us to increase existing deals and find new prospective buyers, including in Kuwait, in the long run,” said Macedo (pictured above on the left, with company president Marcel Fiorio).
Arab Chamber international business executive Rafael Solimeo said turnout really decreased, but visitors were more industry-specific this year than in the last one. In other words, despite the smaller attendance, the fair created good business opportunities.
“We noticed that the executives are learning more and more to work on the image of Brazilian products in Arab countries. Several companies had promising meetings during the event, and other meetings over the next few days are expected to lead to final orders being placed,” Solimeo told ANBA.
Abirochas vice president Paulo Orcioli said the Middle East Stone is a gateway to the Middle East and Asia. The Association has been joining the event for two years now, and there are plans to have more enterprises from Brazil in 2019. “What we have here are two different buyer profiles. Some go for the more high-end stones, which we consider almost like jewelry – quartzite, colorless quartz and amethyst plates. Others are looking for raw material for major projects. They want the consistency that traditional granite from Brazil can deliver. We noticed there’s a lot of interest in landscaping-type floor stones, especially in grey, yellow and white,” said Orcioli.
“Lots of deals could go through from now until Dubai Expo 2020, and I believe Brazil will be more and more present in the industry, in a more striking, effective way, and not only in the UAE, but throughout the whole Middle East,” said the ambassador of Brazil to the UAE, Fernando Igreja, in visiting the Brazilian pavilion in the show.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
