São Paulo –Saudi Arabia will be one of the destinations for Brazilian sweets exports in coming years. The country has been selected as one of the target markets of Project Sweet Brazil, signed this week by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) and the Brazilian Cocoa and Confectionery Manufacturers Association (Abicab), providing for promotional and commercial intelligence actions from 2012 to 2014.
The agreement will invest a total of 5.3 million reals in actions in Saudi Arabia, Angola, Chile, Colombia, United States and Peru. "Through research we have detected a strong potential for confectionery products in Saudi Arabia," says Solange Isidoro, the Abicab vice-president for exports. According to her, chocolate is the product with the highest sales potential on the Saudi market.
"We have determined that consumption of fine chocolate is higher in Saudi,” adds Frederico Silva, the Apex manager of the Sweet Brazil Project. According to Silva, the Gulf country was also selected because "there is an ease for Brazilian companies to do business with the Arabs. There are Saudi companies which have proven to be great partners of Brazilian ones,” he says.
Scheduled actions involving the Arab market include attendance of Brazilian enterprises to Gulfood, the leading food industry fair in the Middle East, in 2013 and 2014, and a mission of intelligence analysts to survey competitors, importers, sales channels, and potential partners.
"We will invite potential partners to visit us at the Gulfood," says Silva. "We are also planning business matchmaking rounds to take place before, during, or after the fair, and food and beverage companies have already shown interest in joining,” he reveals.
Although it takes place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Gulfood attracts visitors from several countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia. "There is room for six companies in our Gulfood booth, but there are also five to ten other companies that want to go," says Silva.
According to the Apex manager, the Arab market is gaining importance to Brazilian sweets manufacturers. "The market is growing, and Brazil wants to tap into it further. It is the second main target of Brazilian companies (after South America)," he explains.
"The Arab countries have strong potential when it comes to confectionery," says Isidoro, of Abicab. According to her, countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Jordan are also interesting markets for the sweets industry.
In 2011, Brazil exported U$ 336 million worth of confectionery. Of those, US$ 3.5 million went to the Arabs, amounting to 1.7 tonnes of product. According to the Abicab vice-president, revenues from exports to countries in the Middle East and North Africa are expected to be up 14% in 2012 from 2011.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
