São Paulo – Women’s shoes manufacturing company Gruller is taking its first steps in the foreign market. It has already delivered an order comprising 1,500 pairs to a client in Portugal, and is expecting a new order for 3,500 pairs from the same client. The enterprise wants to increase its exports, and Arab countries are among its targets.
“I have read that the Arab market is growing fast. Should we find a good representative, then we want to export to them,” says Leonardo Castro da Silva, the company’s financial manager.
Contact was made with the Portuguese importer at the International Shoes, Fashion Accessories, Machines and Components Fair (Francal), in 2009. For the time being, Portugal is the only country to which Gruller ships its products.
According to the executive, the company decided to export in order to compensate the shoe industry offseason in Brazil. He explains that sales are weak in January, February, June and July, when the collections are switched.
Presently, Gruller produces 150,000 pairs of shoes per year on average. Thus, Silva believes that the company is perfectly able to expand its exports. “Taking the offseason into consideration, we would be able to place 10,000 on the foreign market each month. We have that much of a surplus to ship to the foreign market,” he says.
The company does not have an export representative yet, but intends to appoint a specific person to tend for the sector in the next two years.
Gruller has existed for 12 years and is based in the city of Contagem, in the state of Minas Gerais. The company has 90 direct employees and annual revenues of 7 million reals (US$ 4 million).
Contact
Gruller
Tel: +55 31 3369-1200
E-mail: financeiro@gruller.com.br
Site: www.gruller.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
