São Paulo – Copacol, a cooperative based in Cafelândia, western Paraná, Brazil, opened a sales office early this month in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. The office will cover the entire Middle East and North Africa region.
The cooperative’s first-ever international unit is part of a strategy to increase its foothold in Arab markets.
Copacol already ships product to seven Arab countries. Last year, it made sales – primarily of poultry – to Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, the UAE and Libya, grossing USD 68.12 million in the process.
Copacol president Valter Pitol said that in 2017, those seven Arab countries took in 21% of the cooperative’s exports, which went to 54 countries and grossed USD 324.4 million total.
With its new business unit in Dubai, the cooperative plans on increasing its sales to that part of the world.
According to Pitol, the cooperative will be able to provide better services in that area, rendering unique services to existing and future clients, and to increase sales of products like soya oil and bran in Arab countries.
Currently, poultry makes up over 90% of Copacol’s sales in Arab countries.
The sales office in Dubai is named Copacol Cooperativa Agroindustrial Consolata (DMCC BRANCH), with an address at Silver Tower AG13, 13th floor, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The cooperative will rely on support from the sales professional Sadath Khan, whose career history includes work in the food industry. He will be regional sales manager for the Middle East.
Copacol
Established on October 23, 1963 by Priest Luís Luise and 32 immigrant farmers hailing from the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, Copacol is currently one of Brazil’s ten biggest cooperatives. Last year, it saw BRL 3.458 billion in revenue, and is expected to gross BRL 4 billion this year.
The 5,737-member outfit slaughters 98 million birds and delivers 11 million liters of milk a year.
In 2017, it produced 11.4 million tons of fish, 952,600 tons of animal feed and concentrates and got 1.2 million tons of wheat, soy and maize from its members.
*Story and text by Joel Santos Guimarães. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum