Marina Sarruf*
São Paulo – After a talk given by the secretary general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, about "How to Trade with the Arab Countries", presented yesterday (29) at the Vale do Rio Sinos University (Unisinos), in the city of São Leopoldo (RS), businessmen from the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul showed interest in learning more about the Arab market. "The event was very positive. All of this is valid to promote Brazil on the Arab market," stated Alaby.
The talk was part of the 4th edition of the Regional Foreign Trade Meeting, promoted by Unisinos and by the Bank of Brazil. According to Alaby, the businessmen from Rio Grande do Sul who showed the greatest interest in exporting to the Arab market were those in the shoe and food sectors, mainly in the sweet sector. The event counted on around 400 people, among them businessmen and foreign trade, foreign relations and business administration students.
At the meeting initiatives for the support of export were presented, as were concrete experiences of Brazilian company internationalisation processes and the perspectives and sceneries of important international markets.
At the talk given by Alaby, he discussed the potential of the Arab market, the customs, the trade balance, and the main products exported and imported. From January to October this year Brazilian foreign sales to the Arab countries totalled US$ 5.25 billion, representing an increase of 22.9% when compared to the same period last year. Imports, in turn, reached US$ 4.65 billion in the first ten months of the year, against US$ 4.28 billion in the same period in 2005.
The main Brazilian products shipped to the Arabs were sugar, cattle beef and chicken, iron ore, aircraft and aluminium. On the other hand, we import oil, naphtha for the petrochemical industry and diesel oil. However, Alaby also mentioned that Brazil has been diversifying its trade basket with the Arab market. One of the examples presented during the seminar was the case of Naturovos, a company from the city of Salvador do Sul, in the state, that exports eggs to the region.
The export manager at the company, Anderson Muller Herbert, discussed the logistics difficulties regarding shipments to the region, the demands of the Arab market and the package modifications that Naturovos needed to make to ship its products. "It was a very interesting talk. He clearly exemplified the Arab market," stated Alaby.
Another speaker who also mentioned the Arab market was Angela Hirata, executive consultant at Alpargatas, the company that produces the famous Havaianas flip-flops. Angela spoke about her work to make the Brazilian brand international and about the importance of quality, control and delivery of the product. Currently, Havaianas flip-flops are present in over 80 countries, including the United Arab Emirates – Angela showed pictures of the product in the country.
Apart from these speakers, the event also included talks by the executive secretary at the Foreign Trade Board (Camex), Mário Mugnaini, who discussed the "Government Actions for International Competitiveness", the foreign trade director at the Bank of Brazil, Nilo José Panazzolo; the president of the Foundation of Economics and Statistics (FEE), Antonio Carlos Fraquelli, who discussed "Exchange rates in Brazil: changes, sceneries and tendencies", the foreign relations director of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Antônio Augusto de Carvalho, and the deputy governor of Unisinos, Aloysio Bohnen.
*Translated by Mark Ament
