Geovana Pagel
São Paulo – Granite producer Gramazon, located in the city of Ji-Paraná, in the northern Brazilian state of Rondônia, has just shipped its first container, with 350 square metres of granite, to Lebanon. Sales are the result of participation in international fairs, including Project Lebanon, and partnerships with Lebanese company B2B International, established in August last year.
Through the representative company, Gramazon manages to do business with the 22 Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
"This first container should serve to introduce Gramazon material in the Arab market. We are betting on further sales, especially to Lebanon," guaranteed Aboudi Safa Moujally, the company representative in the Arab countries.
So as to sell their product well at international fairs, Gramazon has prepared folders in English and Arabic, and a complete line of granite samples from the Amazon.
Initial contact with the Arabs took place in September 2003, during the Golden Jubilee international fair in Damascus, Syria. The first Arab businessmen were contacted there. Later, due to the difficulty with Arabic, the partnership with B2B was established.
In December, also last year, the company participated in the largest civil construction fair in the Middle East, Big 5, in Dubai.
But, according to Moujally, participation in Project Lebanon generated the largest number of contacts and made it possible to close the first export contacts. This is so true that the company is planning to participate in the event again next year.
Research and incentives
Inaugurated in 1998, the company is the result of an initiative by two businessmen and by the Amazon Development Agency (ADA) and the federal government, through the Amazon Investment Fund (Finam).
Field studies searching for new mines began in 1992, when a team of geologists started exploring the whole of the state of Rondonia and the north of the neighbouring state of Mato Grosso, in midwestern Brazil.
Various large granitic stone deposits with quality for use as ornamental stones in the civil construction industry were found.
In the last five years, large investment was made including the purchase of decanting and water clarifying systems, decanting tanks for solid residues, a modular system for sewage treatment, and civil construction works. All this investment was made so as to guarantee that the productive process generates the lowest possible environmental impact.
The company was installed in an area of approximately 75,000 square metres, of this total, 6,800 square metres are built, divided into a 5,400 square metre industrial facility, and a 1,380 square-metre administrative centre.
Recently, with their eye on the possibility of entering new export markets, the company invested almost US$ 1 million in the purchase of two pieces of equipment to increase the current monthly production of 15,000 square metres by 30%.
Gramazon generates 150 direct jobs, and approximately 400 indirect jobs.
Private mines
The company has mines spread throughout the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso. As happens in the industrial unit, the blocs are extracted from the mines using the most modern technology existing on the ornamental stone market.
The entire productive process is supervised by a technical team, guaranteeing maximum productivity of the blocks removed, as required in the processing of stones for export.
Contact
Telephone: (+55 69) 411.5012
E-mail: vendas@gramazon.ind.br
Representative for the Arab countries
B2B International – Mr. Aboudi Safa Moujally
Telephone: (+55 13) 3468.1212
E-mail: aboudi@b2binternacional.com.br
