São Paulo – Gulfood 2020 is likely to see increasingly more natural products from Brazil, with a larger Brazilianness and sustainability appeal, reports Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) foreign business analyst Mônica Ramos, who has overseen the Brazilian pavilion at the Middle East’s largest food and beverage show for six years. The next Gulfood will take place from February 16-20 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“The last few years of the fair have shown a change in exhibited products; we already have coffee, beef and poultry as well established products in both the event and these markets – in fact, it’s always hard to get stands for these industries. This year, we’ll have a strong presence of açaí and grains, and out of the companies going for the first time, I’ve seen more natural products,” Ramos told ANBA during the “Food and Beverage Exports to the Gulf Countries” seminar, which took place this Wednesday (29) morning in the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce headquarters in São Paulo.
Brazilian food and beverage companies interested in exporting or that already export to the Middle East and North Africa region were invited as well as Gulfood participants. This year, the show will feature 110 Brazilian companies, including those that will be featured in Arab Chamber stand; those taken by Apex-Brasil in the National, Grains, Beverage, Poultry, and Beef – the last two are organized in partnership with Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) and Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (Abiec), respectively.
The Arab Chamber seminar was attended by around 120 people, including representations of food trading companies as well as manufacturers of beef, eggs, açaí, honey, fruits, orange and grape juice, cookies, grains and spices, ice machines and other foodstuffs.
A novelty in Gulfood 2020 is that the show has created a new separate event for candies, cookies, sweets and chocolates. “All these products will migrate into Yummex – a candy show to run in November. But we had a few companies that had already registered and bought tickets, so around ten candy companies were approved and will participate in our pavilion, but from 2021 on there’ll be no more candies in Gulfood,” Ramos said.
Antonio Lopes, a business analyst at Apex-Brasil Office for MENA in Dubai, talked about distribution channels, consumer profiling, and food and beverage trends in the Gulf and pointed out that tendency toward a more healthy consumption due to the high obesity rates in the region, the tax on sweetened beverages and energy drinks in the UAE, and other information.
Expo 2020 Dubai
Apex-Brasil Expo 2020 projects analyst Marcello Martins talked during the seminar on business opportunities for the food and beverage industry in the Brazilian pavilion at six-month world exhibition Expo 2020, to start in October in Dubai.
He believes that brands exhibited in the Brazilian pavilion in the Expo will reach a huge audience. “Brazil pavilion will welcome an average of 20,000 visitors a day. Over six months, this amounts to 3.5 million people, more than Brazil receives in tourists over the same period,” Martins said.
Food and beverage companies, Martins said, have a potential to participate in Expo 2020 too, with several different promotional activities, such as tastings, cooking shows, and others. “This depends on the company size. Take BRF, which is a world protein giant – it can imprint its mark in the market with a lunch or dinner tour in the pavilion restaurant. A smaller company may break into a market through a tasting session – it may use the pavilion as a support, tells the story of a product such as açaí. This narrative is developed for a long-time relation between the public and the Brazilian product. The pavilion may sell some products too,” Martins said.
Besides food, gems and jewels may be products of interest to present at the Expo, the analyst said. “These products perform quite well in the region, and Expo will offer a high-end attendance, which is the target audience of this segment,” he said about the high-income consumer.
Companies interested must be approved both by Apex-Brasil and Expo organizers. “Every interaction with the attendees must be approved by the Expo,” he explained. Alcoholic beverages are allowed in limited amounts. O Boticário, a Brazilian cosmetics and perfume company with stores in Dubai, is working together with Apex to develop fragrances specifically to the Brazil pavilion in Expo 2020.
Seminar
The seminar was opened and closed by Arab Chamber vice president of Foreign Trade Ruy Cury. Other lectures were “Overview of Brazil Trade Relations” by Apex-Brasil Foreign Business analyst Ulisses Pimenta, “Halal Certification and Food Security: Challenges and Opportunities” by Arab Chamber Institutional Relations analyst Danielle Berini (pictured above), and an additional speech by the UAE Consulate in São Paulo economic researcher George Ramos on the technical requirements for starting a business in the country and consular services.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
