São Paulo – Brazilian companies that attended Sweets & Snacks Middle East, the fair of the confectionery and snacks sectors, closed deals worth USD 2.4 million during the event, with estimation of future deals pointing to another USD 10.05 million. The event was held from October 27th to 29th.
The majority of the sales volume by the Brazilian industries in the event came from companies participating in the project Sweet Brasil, a partnership between the Brazilian Cocoa, Chocolate, Peanut and Candy Manufacturers Association (Abicab) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
The companies Docile, Dori, Jazam, Montevérgine, Peccin, Riclan, Simas, Toffano and Garoto closed deals that reach USD 1.7 million, 305% more than the value registered in the fair’s 2014 edition. In future deals, estimations point to sales of USD 7.05 million.
“The number of companies increased and there was a 160% growth of business per company, which is very good”, assesses Rodrigo Solano, Exports manager at Abicab, about the increase in sales of the companies participating in the project. In this year’s edition, Sweet Brasil took nine companies against seven companies last year.
He also attributed the higher volume of sales to the efforts made by the companies affiliated with the project in meeting the requirements of the global market. “The project is very committed [to meeting] the world trends. We have research tools that show us what is on demand in the world and we take these products to the events”, he says.
The Abicab manager says also that the fairs in Dubai present a higher number of visitors compared to events in other countries. “It’s a public more interested and open to Brazilian products”, he says.
According to him, “the Arab countries should remain on the focus [of the sector], along with the United States”. “Even with Gulfood coming in a few months, the participation [of Brazilian companies] at Sweets & Snacks is going up”, he says, referring to the main food fair in the Middle East, which always takes place in February and also in Dubai.
Rookies
The companies of the project Happy Goods, a partnership between the Brazilian Manufacturers Association of Biscuits, Pasta and Industrialized Breads & Cakes (Abimapi) and Apex-Brasil, took part in the fair in Dubai for the first time.
Four companies involved in the project attended the fair: Bauducco, Marilan, Hathor and Visconti. Together, these companies closed sales worth USD 700,000, with estimations of future deals reaching USD 3 million for next year.
“We had a very satisfiying number of contacts made from different countries, but especially from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India and Lebanon”, says Renata Boes, coordinator of Trade Promotion at Abimapi. The executive believes Sweets & Snacks to be “very interesting”. “It’s an option for the companies that don’t have access to Gulfood”, she says.
According to her, Hathor already showed interest in attending the next edition of Sweets & Snacks. According to Boes, Abimapi will draft a plan of actions for 2016 in which it will assess if other companies are interested in the event so the project can have another participation in the fair.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
