São Paulo – Representatives of Maza group, from Bahrain, and Binca International, from the United Arab Emirates, are among the 19 buyers of food and beverages from 15 countries that are participating in the International Business Meetings of the Brazilian Supermarket Association (Abras). The roundtables end on Thursday (16), in Campinas.
The foreign businessmen are part of a Buyer Project, a program developed by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), which brings importers to negotiate directly with Brazilian suppliers. “The Arabs had no pause throughout the day. Each one had on average 20 meetings on the first day," said the director at the international area at Abras, Claudio Macedo.
According to him, Abras has been trying to bring greater and greater numbers of buyers from the Arab market to the international meeting. “The idea is to expand the Arab presence even further. It is important to generate closer ties with Brazilian companies," said the director. Last year, the organisation brought the Egyptian Traders Co.
Contact with companies Maza and Binca was made through the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, which has already brought the groups to other roundtables in Brazil. Maza group, which has been operating in the market in Bahrain for 90 years, is one of the leaders in imports and distribution of food in the country. With annual revenues of US$ 100 million, the group imports sugar, biscuits and chicken from Brazil.
Company Binca, which has also already been in Brazil, is the subsidiary in the Emirates of the German Binca International. It is responsible, in the Arab country, for distribution of food to Emirates Catering, in aviation, and Jumeirah Group, in the hotel sector.
According to Macedo, expectations are to generate 600 meetings in the two days of the roundtables, which began on Wednesday (15). Apart from the Arab countries, importers from Latin America and Europe are also participating. Among the products presented to international buyers are coffee, rice, sauces, condiments, biscuits, pasta and cooking utensils.
Another project to take place in the sidelines is the Buyer Project, whose objective is to bring international distributors to negotiate with supermarkets in Brazil. This is the third year that Abras promotes the project. The event includes distributors and companies from Greece, Spain, India, the United States, Argentina and Paraguay. The International Business Meeting is taking place in the sidelines of the 44th Abras Convention.
*Translated by Mark Ament
