São Paulo – Food industry Selmi, from São Paulo, has just opened a new market: the Gulf. This week, 200 crates of cake mix should be shipped to the United Arab Emirates and up to the end of April, another two containers with 20 tonnes of pasta, baked cakes and cake mix should head to the same destination. The contact was made at the Gulfood, a food sector fair in Dubai, in February.
The urgency was such that the first cake mix shipment under brand Renata should go by air. According to the export manager at Selmi, Nancy Cristina Gonzales, the other order should go by sea. All the products were shipped with labels in Arabic at the importer’s request. Apart from the Emirates, the company is negotiating with buyers from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Jordan. "We should probably close deals in coming months," said Nancy.
According to her, all the contacts were made in the last two editions of the Gulfood and at event Flavours from Brazil, promoted by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), also in February, in Dubai. "The fair (Gulfood) in 2008 had already been very positive, but this year’s edition was excellent. It is generating results," said Nancy. "With this market, we feel that negotiations are slower," she added.
Despite the difficulty of distance, language and culture, Nancy stated that Selmi products had good acceptance on the market. "It is a potential market for the company and we have great interest in further business there, as we have good perspectives," she said. According to her, among the Arab countries, the company already exports to Libya and Morocco, in North Africa. In total, Selmi is present in over 20 countries, having in Africa and Latin America its main markets.
Foreign market
Despite the company having been in the market for 120 years, the work for development of the foreign market only began four years ago, but it was between 2007 and 2008 that the international shipments became more consistent. According to Nancy, pasta, in terms of volume, is the most exported product. Of the company’s entire production, 3% goes abroad.
With two factories, one in Sumaré, in the interior of São Paulo, and another in Londrina, in Paraná state, Selmi group produces flour, pasta, grated cheese, cake mix, instant cakes and coffee. At the Sumaré Unit, the company produces 345,000 kilograms of pasta per day, 220,000 kilograms of cake a month and 70,000 kilograms of flour a day. With regard to flour, the company has an installed capacity of 100 tonnes a day.
Contact
Selmi Group
Site: www.selmi.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
