São Paulo – Brazilian exports of boats should reach US$ 50 million this year, according to forecasts by the Brazilian Boat Building Association (Acobar). The value is four times greater than sales last year. One of the factors that may contribute to this increase in sales comes from international buyers visiting the Boat Show, to take place from the 14th to the 19th, in São Paulo.
“The Boat Show is a window for foreign boatyards to learn what is best in our boat-building industry. International buyers are normally European," said the president and technical director at the fair, Ernani Paciornik and Marcio Dotorri, respectively.
According to the organizers, with the depreciation of foreign currencies as against the Brazilian real, and the global crisis, Brazil started being seen as a great business opportunity, mainly for companies from Europe and the United States. "We believe that greater exports are explained by the larger number of yachts built in Brazil, as they are products with higher added value."
To the organizers, the Arab market is already included in the list of Brazilian nautical exports. "We already export vehicles and military equipment to the Arabs, so the Brazil brand is not strange to them," said Paciornik, who mentioned some companies that already frequently sell to that market, among them Ecomariner and Fibrafort.
According to Acobar, the fact that climate conditions in Brazil are appropriate and that there is a broad navigable coastline – with over 45,000 kilometres of navigable waters in rivers and dams and 8,500 kilometres of coast – creates great potential for growth on the nautical market. There are over 150 shipyards in activity in Brazil, producing 4,200 boats last year, 85% being 32-foot-long vessels.
According to Paciornik, the ratio of boats per inhabitants in Brazil is 1 to 300, whereas in Europe, the average is 1 to 60, showing that there is still great potential on the domestic market. According to information supplied by the organizers of the Boat Show, boat fairs answer to approximately one third of annual shipyard sales. In Brazil, boat production rose from 3,500 units in 2006 to 4,200 in 2009.
Business at the fair
The last edition of the São Paulo Boat Show received over 50,000 visitors in the six days of the fair. In terms of business volume, the organisers of the event hope for growth of 10% over last year, when sales totalled 180 million reals (US$ 105 million). There are 150 exhibitors from several countries.
Service
São Paulo Boat Show
Date: from October 14th to 19th
Time: from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm (weekdays) and 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm (weekends)
Site: Transamérica Expo Center São Paulo
Address: Avenida Dr. Mário Villas Boas Rodrigues, 387, Santo Amaro
Telephone: (+55 11) 2186-1001
Email: info@boatshow.com.br
Site: www.boatshow.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament