São Paulo – The president of architecture and construction show Expo Revestir, Antonio Carlos Kieling, said Brazil can no longer neglect exports. “Foreign sales cannot be an outlet for products and stockpiles. They must be a consistent policy for businesses, industries and the country,” he said during the event’s opening ceremony this Tuesday (13) at São Paulo’s Transamerica Expo Center.
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Kieling announced the renewal of Programa Setorial de Exportações (Sectoral Exports Program), a partnership of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Brazilian Association of Manufacturers of Ceramic Tiles, Sanitary Ware and Related Products (Anfacer) to boost industry exports. Apex president Roberto Jaguaribe and Anfacer board chairman Heitor Ribeiro de Almeida Neto signed the renewal agreement.
Jaguaribe said that even though Brazil is leaving recession behind, that doesn’t necessarily entail an increase in foreign sales. “As a rule of thumb, the more economic activity there is, the more exports weaken, and I hope this will not be the case,” he explained.
Jaguaribe said that last year, the Apex-Anfacer project saw 53 companies ship nearly USD 350 million worth of goods to 117 different countries. “This is tantamount to 95% of ceramics exports from Brazil.” He said Brazil boasts vast competence and high quality product, but that the image of the Brazilian industry must be improved on, and the national brand must be consolidated if foreign trade is to increase.
Arab world
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Some of the exhibitors in the expo already do business with Arab countries, like Deca, which recently supplied sinks and toilets for a residential project in Abu Dhabi, the UAE, besides owning a distributing company in Dubai.
Exhibitors Deca, Granos and Angelgres are members of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, which has its own stand at the trade show. Granos and Angelgres are in talks with Arab countries but have closed no deals yet.
Portobello, another large company of the sector, sells in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. “We already have ongoing businesses in nearly all of the Gulf countries, and we’re very interested in entering Kuwait, which we’re in the prospection phase,” said Sergio Rocha, the brand’s exports manager.
About Expo Revestir, Rocha said that he will meet with clients from Palestine, Oman, UAE and Bahrain. “Most of them are our clients already and have been for quite some time and we continue to develop our partnerships; only the Oman buyer hasn’t signed a deal yet,” he said.
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Portobello deals with stores, distributors and projects in these countries, exporting medium and high-level ceramic floors and inside walls, and was a part of large projects, such as the Red Sea Mall, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Ibn Battuta Mall, in Dubai, and the residential building The Palm Jumeirah, also in the Arab emirate. The latest project in which the company is working on is the Dubai Waterfront, a project of channels and islands that will host luxury hotels and residences in Dubai and should be ready until 2020.
For the Arab Chamber’s president, Rubens Hannun, the Arab market has an enormous potential. “The Arab countries are growing strongly in the construction sector, since many countries are building entire new cities, such as Egypt, with its new capital, and Saudi Arabia, plus the reconstruction of Iraq and Syria,” he said. Expo Revestir’s director general, Maurício Borges, also pointed out the importance of business with the Arab countries for the companies attending the event.
Still according to Hannun, the Arab Chamber’s stand in the expo aims to promote the exchange of information between Brazilian companies and the Arab market, welcome Arab buyers and serve as supporting point to its members. “It’s an important institutional action,” he said.
The trade fair
Expo Revestir is Brazil’s largest ceramics trade expo and the fourth largest in the world. The exhibition runs until Friday (16), with 240 exhibitors, among them 21 from abroad, with an expectation of welcoming 60,000 visitors, including 80 foreign buyers.
Quick info
Expo Revestir
From March 13 to 16, from 10 am to 7 pm
Transamerica Expo Center – Av. Dr. Mario Villas Boas Rodrigues, 387, São Paulo
Further information: www.exporevestir.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Sérgio Kakitani
