São Paulo – Euromed, an Egyptian company that produces items for anaesthetics and surgery, has just closed a new US$ 5 million contract with its distributor in Brazil. The Egyptian company has had a partnership with importer Labor Import since 2008 and hopes that, in four years, business with Brazil may grow tenfold.
"This time round, we are negotiating the registration of other products [at the National Health Surveillance Agency – Anvisa] as we adapted most of our products to supply the pre-requisites of the Brazilian market. Our objective is to reach US$ 50 million on the Brazilian market in four years," said Wael Reda Abdou, vice president for International Relations, in an interview to ANBA, during his visit to São Paulo.
The contract signed with Labor Import was for distribution, in 2011, of hypodermic syringes made by Euromed. Currently, the company produces 14 kinds of hospital products, of which three are already registered at Anvisa, at its 23,000-square-metre factory, in Cairo. Apart from the syringes, also authorised for trade on the domestic market are intravenous catheters and intravenous catheters with safety devices.
Abdou explains that new sales to Brazil should be made this year. "We are negotiating a new contract with the same distributor for different products and I will be back to close everything in December," he pointed out. To him, the control exerted by Anvisa on medical products in Brazil makes the country attractive to the company.
"Competition in Brazil is fair because Anvisa is a very sophisticated organisation for registration of medical products. Those interested in entering the Brazilian market need quality and that means good raw material, good performance, good quality control," he said.
Euromed currently exports 75% of production, of which just 8% comes to Brazil, but Abdou believes that this percentage may rise. "Our plans are for the Brazilian market to acquire 30% of our products," he said.
The Egyptian company exports to 36 countries all over the world. In Latin America, Brazil is the main market, but the organisation also has clients in Chile and Honduras, as well as registering its products for sale in Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia.
To expand trade
In the interview, Abdou, who is also a member of the Brazil-Egypt Business Council, said his country is working to increase trade exchange between both parties after the signing of the free trade agreement between the Mercosur and the Arab country, in August this year, as informed by ANBA.
He explained that the organisation is promoting work for generation of awareness among Egyptian businessmen so that they may turn their interest towards Brazil. "We are going to establish programs to place Brazil as a main destination for Egyptian businessmen to import, export or invest," he said.
"We have sectors with important potential, among them the pharmaceutical, furniture and medical equipment sectors. We are aware of the agreement, of the Brazilian market and, of course, the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is helping in this matter, providing figures and participating in the most important fairs," he said.
According to Abdou, among the actions for promotion of the Brazilian market in Egypt are incentives to trips by businessmen from Brazil and participating in the main Brazilian fairs in several sectors.
*Translated by Mark Ament
