Dubai – After years having Brazil as the country of major suppliers, the IFFCO group, from the United Arab Emirates, entered the Brazilian market for good. In mid-2022, the company founded IFFCO do Brasil, based in city of São Paulo. “We do business in many categories, and we’d certainly like to add more products to our portfolio in Brazil,” IFFCO Culinary CEO Andrey Dribny (pictured).
Dribny gave an interview to ANBA during this year’s Gulfood. The food trade show saw a massive participation of the Sharjah-based group, which had different stands and brands in the exhibition.
One of them was Hulalá, which the group acquired in 2016. The brand manufactures non-dairy cream and has operated in Brazil since 2002. Now in control of the firm, the IFCCO will now carry out a study on Brazilian consumption to contemplate the launch of new products for the country.
The Hulalá food line is currently manufactured in Brazil by IFFCO’s co-manufacturing partner. The line of different non-dairy creams include whipped cream, culinary cream and dessert syrups in 1-liter, 200-ml and 200-g packages.
“Well, we do have a history of selling our brand Hulalá. And going forward we decided we’d like to further develop it, so we’ll try to continue investing in this circuit, in this category and in this brand,” the CEO said.
Market studies
The first step of the new office in São Paulo includes a study on local demands. “And for that we’ve established our own presence, our team and our capability to first better understand the market, to learn more about the consumers and Brazil,” Dribny pointed out.
With this knowledge, the CEO expects to develop products that are adequate for the Brazilian market. “And later on, we might also continue to explore opportunities to invest once we have a better grip of the market and a better understanding of the consumer trends and the requirements,” he pointed out.
The group works with food-related brands and in non-food segments, too, like personal care, and is present in over 40 different countries.
The CEO explained that despite having an office based in São Paulo, the company aims to become a leading brand across the whole country. “In Brazil, we entered first with non-dairy creams, but the sky is the limit. The market [the company operates in] is very attractive, and in the past five years it has showed double a digit growth year on year. We’re confident it will continue to evolve. And that’s why we’re putting our team together to develop the plans on how to accelerate this growth,” he said.
To keep increasing its market share, IFFCO bets on new technologies in non-dairy food processes and research. “We want to leverage our research and development capability that we invested in over the past decades. We have expertise in multiple parts of the world across Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where we integrated the latest technologies in oils and fats,” the executive stressed.
Dribny reveals that the group is focused on developing liquid products in emulsion technologies. “This is the pillar that we would like to build our plants on in Brazil and the other markets where we see further potential to grow. Maybe we’ll go other countries. We wouldn’t shy away from going to neighboring markets like Argentina, Chile and others or supplying from Brazil and or taking further steps,” he said.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda