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Dubai – Spread through five theme pavilions, plus the stand of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, 100 Brazilian companies are attending the 2018 edition of the Gulfood in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which runs until Thursday (22). From these companies, eight were selected by the Brazilian Trade and Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) because they’re novice exporters, with most attending an international fair for the first time.
One of them is Kigrãos, a company that represents over 40 grain producers of Mato Grosso, who, together own a planted area of 50,000 hectares. Although it exports half of its cowpea beans and pop corn output, including to Egypt, the company now is planning to enter the grains for animal consumption market. Thus, it’s exhibiting in the expo species of foxtail millet, sesame seed and species of smilograss, with a focus on the Arab countries.
“The Arab market is very strong for animal feed, but it still doesn’t know the Brazilian product,” said Roberto Sadi, sales executive of Kigrãos. He arrived at Gulfood with ongoing talks with buyers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia, and expects to make new contacts in his space at the Apex’s stand.
For him, the participation is already worthwhile due to fact that he can welcomed and talk with his current clients, most of them from India. “All of our 11 clients of cowpeas beans from India visited us in the fair’s first day. The product also pleased the Pakistanis, who came to get to know us,” he said.
The eight companies are sharing a space at Apex’s stand, each with its own table. According to Rafael Prado, the agency’s coordinator of Business Promotion, their beginner status regarding exports prevents them from having their own stand, but this initiative by the agency allows them the opportunity to attend the international fair. The initiative doesn’t take place only at Gulfood, since Apex has promoted it also in other expos abroad.
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Trading company F3 Import Export, from João Pessoa, Paraíba, is attending its first exports-oriented fair. Since 2015 operating with the imports of various items, from motorcycle parts to wedding dresses, the company now wants to export. “We haven’t exported anything yet. We decided in January to invest in a trade expo and, after some research, chose Gulfood,” said Fabrício Marsicano, the company’s projects director.
According to him, there are many products to be offered: poultry, corn, rice, sugar, coffee and coconut water, among others. In the fair’s first two days, he made good contacts for all the sectors. “A lot of people came from Africa, the Middle East and India. These are the three main markets,” he said.
Prado said that the companies make their registration to attend the expo and that Apex selects those in which it sees greater capacity to achieve good results. There’s no targeted choice for those eyeing the Arab market. According to Prado, Gulfood is not considered to be a regional expo anymore, but international, with a business expectation rivaling Sial Paris, in France, and Anuga, in Germany, two of the world’s largest food industry trade expos.
“It’s the fifth edition [of Gulfood] that Apex-Brasil organizes an action. Gulfood was once regional, but now is global: we talked to buyers from Saudi Arabia, UAE and also from markets such as India, Pakistan and Senegal,” explained the executive.
Apex expects to increase in 10% the volume of business done during and after this edition of the fair, when compared to last year’s, when Gulfood increased Brazilian exports in USD 1.1 billion.
A visit by the ambassador
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The Apex pavilions at Gulfood were visited by Brazil’s ambassador in Abu Dhabi, Fernando Lemos Igreja, late afternoon of this Monday (19). The diplomat visited also the Arab Chamber’s stand – which again was visited by a high number of people in the fair’s second day –, where he was welcomed by the organization’s board member, Mohamad Abdouni Neto, and Special Projects Advisor, Tamer Mansour.
To ANBA, the ambassador talked about the importance of Gulfood and the increasing number of Brazilian companies.
“Brazilian participation is excellent this year. Apex’s pavilions were well assembled, as well as the one by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. I think Brazil came with a strong presence and it tends to grow. We are at 100 companies this year and have a study to be even bigger next year. [I’m] very pleased, hope that they [the companies] come back next year even stronger,” he said.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
