Dubai – “About 30% of the volume exported by Brazilian slaughterhouses goes to the Arab world, so our presence in Gulfood is more to consolidate this market,” said the executive director of the Brazilian Beef Exports Association (ABIEC, acronym in Portuguese) Liège Nogueira in an interview to ANBA in the second day of Gulfood in Dubai this Monday (18). The largest markets of Brazil in the beef sector in the region are Egypt, Iran (which is not Arab but is in the Middle East), and Saudi Arabia, and its biggest competition are the United States, Australia, and India – this last one with buffalo meat, according to the director.
ABIEC is present in with an area in the meat pavilion of APEX-Brazil in Gulfood, with small- and medium-size companies from the sector. Marfrig, JBS, and Minerva Foods, which are large-scale companies (slaughtering more than 1,000 cattle per day) have their own stands, near the APEX pavilion.
“Brazil meets the two biggest demands in quality with its exports, which are texture, softness and taste to the final consumer and the food sanitary and security norms,” explained Nogueira. According to the director, Egypt bought 17% more Brazilian beef in 2018 compared to the previous year. “The drop in purchases in the end of the year is natural, but even so there was a growth, and the Muslim countries usually buy great volumes one to two months before Ramadan to stock up,” she says. Ramadan is a one-month period where Muslins fast from sunrise to sundown and its date follows the Islamic lunar calendar; this year it will start in May 5 and ends in June 4.
“Gulfood is already seen as a global fair, we receive people from all over the world, Asians, Europeans, and it became an annual meeting place, since the two biggest fairs in the sector – ANUGA in Germany and SIAL Paris in France – are biennial and take turns,” declared Nogueira, stressing that ABIEC has participated in the Gulf event for eight years. “The fair is great, very busy; we are receiving a lot of visits, we already made deals with Iran,” she reported about the sales of the companies present in ABIEC’s stand.
For Rada Saleh, partner director of the Ramax Group, these first days of Gulfood are more for talks. The deals themselves are signed from the third day on, according to him. “The first, second day are talk, talk, talk and walk,” said the businessman, comparing it to window shopping. “In this early stage, visitors are talking and price shopping, but tomorrow they start taking decisions. Let’s wait,” he declared.
“For us, the deals are only closed after the fair,” said Ruy Corte, director of Dom Glutão, beef company that has a space in the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce’s stand. He says Gulfood is very important to get in touch with potential clients and strengthen ties with those who already buy their products. “Turnover today is already better than it was yesterday. We talked to clients and people from Iraq UAE, Oman, Palestine, and even China and Kosovo,” he tells.
Illustrious presence
This Monday, Gulfood received the official visit from Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai emir, prime-minister and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. When he was passing by the Arab Brazilian Chamber’s stand, surrounded by men in traditional Muslim vests, a crowd gathered around him to take pictures or just to see the authority pass . He is a well-known figure, adored in his country, and is represented in several murals throughout Dubai, as well as paintings and photos in offices.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda