Geovana Pagel
São Paulo – Rubber article producer Mercur, which has been exporting to Morocco for the last three years, wants to increase exports to the Arab countries. The company has been shipping rubber sheets and flooring for use in civil construction and industry to the Arab country, and now plans to start selling products like erasers, which are the main product in the company school line.
According to the company export manager for the flooring and laminates unit, Miguel de Mello Mattos, Mercur already has a local partner, in Casablanca, and he has been contributing for the growth of exports to Morocco. "As it is a new market, Mercur is gradually expanding its sales to the region," he explained. "For 2005 we are studying the possibility of participating in a fair in the Arab market," he added.
According to Mattos, as the company rubber flooring and sheets, the artefacts they produce and export to the Arab market are internationally certified, they are not subject to specific demands.
According to the manager, Mercur has been operating on the international market for over 50 years, having mainly consolidated its presence in the markets of the Mercosur. "Nowadays the company is present in over 30 countries," he pointed out.
With his eye on the potential of the foreign market, Mercur is developing a strong program to increase exports. The company target is to increase its participation in sales to the foreign market from the current 4% to over 30% in the next five years.
For this purpose, in the last five years, the company has been participating in popular international fairs such as Hanover Messe and PaperWorld, in Germany, Subcontrata, in Portugal, Shopa Show, in the United States, and Expo Mexicana de Papeleria, in Mexico.
The company
With around 500 employees, Mercur is a family company with 100% Brazilian capital. With the objective of fixing tyres and producing rubber artefacts, the company was established in 1924 and at the time received the name Hoelzel Irmãos.
In eight years, the company grew, employed 40 people, and moved from a small warehouse to a larger area, where it is has been operating to date, on Cristóvão Colombo street in the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Ro Grande do Sul.
Mercur was the first factory of rubber artefacts in the southern region of Brazil. In the last 80 years, the company has released thousands of products, from simple seals for preserves to sophisticated rubber flooring used in buses made by the main Brazilian bus makers.
Business units
Nowadays Mercur is divided in three business units: Stationery, Body Care and Flooring and Laminates.
The Stationery Unit offers three lines of schooling material such as white and coloured glue, mechanical pencils, felt-tip pens, pens, liquid correctors and erasers. The unit also has products with brands licensed by Disney, Looney Tunes, Cartoon Network and Barbie.
The Body Care Unit presents lines of products turned to sports, body care and sports medicine, such as therapeutic cushions, products for muscle rehabilitation and conditioning for gyms and physiotherapists, elastic bands, products for the prevention, protection and treatment of osteo-muscular diseases with supports, immobilizes, screens, slings, bandages and cervical collars.
The Flooring and Laminates Unit operates in the civil construction and industrial sector. In civil construction, the company offers flooring for houses and businesses. The company is also responsible for the development, production and trade of rubber sheets, offering specific technical characteristics to answer to industrial needs. Mercur also trades rubber floors for buses, trains, tractors and harvesters.
Contact
www.mercur.com.br
