São Paulo – Meat packing company Xinguara, from Brazil’s Pará state, has closed a sale of 220 tons of beef to a new client in Egypt during the São Paulo Supermarkets Association Fair (Apas Fair) held last week in São Paulo.
“We were already familiar with the client. We had gotten in touch and met them at the Dubai expo (Gulfood). At Apas, we ended up striking a deal,” says exports manager Rada Saleh. The executive declined to reveal the importing company’s name, but said it is a buyer associated with the Arab country’s ministry of Defense.
“They need an average of 5,000 tons of beef and 5,000 tons of poultry each month,” says Saleh, noting that the order placed at Apas could lead to new sales.
Saleh also revealed that he is about to close a 55-ton sale to a client in Tunisia; the deal was also discussed at the Apas Fair. “We should complete the deal early next week,” he says.
According to the executive, the Middle East is one of Xinguara’s main markets. “We have a strong focus on the halal market,” Saleh points out. Halal certification attests that animals were slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.
Currently, Xinguara produces 2,000 tons of meat per month. Half of it is halal meat. The food is shipped to Arab countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia.
Apart from Arab countries, halal product is sold to other markets where there are Muslim consumers, including the Ivory Coast, Angola, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong. The meat packer ships to roughly 20 different countries.
According to Saleh, the company sells 60% of its halal output to Arab nations. Xinguara is now targeting yet another market in the region. “We are waiting for the accreditation of plans to export to Saudi Arabia,” he says.
The executive tells that sales to Arab countries began in late 2014, and that in 2016 the company will place “total focus on winning that market over.” “The Arab market offers higher profitability with more interesting margins,” he ponders.
Saleh claims Arab demand for his company’s product “is on the rise.” “It’s an interesting consumer market that is buying more and more product from Brazil,” he asserts.
The company has a plant in the namesake city of Xinguara, Pará, an office in Recife, Pernambuco, and roughly 700 staff.
Contact
Xinguara
Website: www.frigorificoxinguara.com.br
Phone: +55 81 3035-3900 and +55 11 99402-8836
Email: rada@frigorificoxinguara.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum