São Paulo – Fruit importers from six countries, including three Arab nations, will take a closer look at Brazilian production in the sector, and also watch football matches from the World Cup, which starts this Thursday (12th) in Brazil. Overall, 12 foreign buyers were invited to visit the country during the Tournament as part of the World Cup Buyer Project, organized by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil). The organization is carrying out the project in partnership with several Brazilian sectoral organizations.
For the fruit importers, the action is carried out by the Apex alongside the Brazilian Fruit Institute (Ibraf). The two organizations are already partners in a project to foster exports named Brazilian Fruit. For the World Cup, representatives of companies from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, United States and England were invited. The Arab companies attending to the event are Labty, from Kuwait, Food Vending, from Saudi Arabia, and Think Food, from the Arab Emirates, all of them with two representatives.
These buyers will spend some days in Brazil getting to know fruit farms, packaging centers, and offices and later watching a World Cup match. The Kuwaitis are already in the country for the opening game, according to Ibraf’s project manager, Paulo Passos Filho. They have already met with fruit producers. Italian importers will be coming during a match in the round of 16, while North Americans and English will watch a match in the quarter-finals. The buyers from the Emirates and Saudi Arabia will be in the country during the quarter-finals.
Filho believes the initiative will bring benefits for the segment. According to him, a similar project took place last year during the Confederations Cup, held in Brazil. “We had a gratifying experience in the Confederations Cup. We did it and the results were amazing. Business took place even during the period (of the games) and with large prospects (of future sales),” said the manager. According to him, the project adds something more, an experience to the importer, and it has that “one on one” style Arabs enjoy.
The Arab market is one of the priorities of Ibraf, in the Brazilian Fruit project. The initiative’s goal is not only to sell fresh fruit, but also processed products such as fruit juice and pulp. As a matter of fact, the project participated in the food trade fair Gulf Food, in Dubai, in the beginning of the year, and has made continuous actions targeted at the region. “We took part in the fair, now we are bringing buyers, it is not a process with delimited beginning and end, it is a short, medium and long term process,” said the project manager of Ibraf.
Brazilian fruit exports to the Arab countries have been growing. They increased by 41% in 2013 from 2012 and reached 13,790 tonnes, according to data from the Ibraf. The volume generated revenue of US$ 11.89 million, an increase of 54% in relation to the previous year. Overall, Brazil exported 711,860 tonnes of fruit last year, an increase of 2.72% in relation to 2012. Foreign sales generated revenue of US$ 657.52 million, an increase of 6.26% in the same comparison.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
