São Paulo – Business owners from the decorative stones sector taking part in the Vitória Stone Fair, an important trade show of the industry being held in the city of Serra (ES) until Friday (9), have shown an interest in expanding their exports to the Arab market, where Brazilian stones are still underrepresented. On Tuesday (8) afternoon, the CEO of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, gave a lecture on the opportunities that the sector presents in the region.
In his talk, Alaby showed that there are several projects being developed in the region, especially in the Gulf, and that Brazil appears only at the 16th position in the ranking of suppliers of decorative stones to the Arabs. Last year, only USD 11.5 million were exported worth of stones to the region – from a total of USD 2.1 billion spent by the Arabs in the sector.
“The participation by the entrepreneurs was very good, over 50 people were in the audience. After the lecture, many of them came looking for me to ask questions,” said the CEO. According to him, the most common questions were about the colors of the stones that are in more demand by the Arabs. “They are Bahia blue and Uberaba black,” he explained.
Alaby took the opportunity to promote the Middle East Stone Fair, an annual trade show that takes place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that the Arab Chamber will take part in. This year’s edition was held in May, and in 2018 it’s scheduled for September 4 to 6. “The companies were interested in taking part also,” said the CEO.
The executive told ANBA that the fair in the state of Espírito Santo registered a good number of visitors and had quality products for exhibition. According to the organization, buyers from over 70 countries visited the fair, with some of them coming from Arab countries. Over 25,000 visitors are expected to visit during the fair’s four days.
According to the organization of the Vitória Stone Fair, Espírito Santo state is the top exporter of decorative stones in the country. From January to April, it exported USD 277.4 million from the total of USD 336.3 million exported by the country, or 82% of the sector’s foreign sales. The companies have expanded their markets and claimed an increase in deals in many countries, among them Saudi Arabia, Egypt and United Arab Emirates – in these last two sales grew 226% and 125%, respectively, in comparison to the first four months of last year.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
