São Paulo – Foodstuffs and agricultural machinery/equipment are the most sought-after items by Sudanese companies at the Brazilian stand in the 33rd Khartoum International Fair, in Sudan’s national capital. Brazil is represented at the event by a partnership between the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Besides the Arab Chamber, the electric shower manufacturer Fame has a representative at the fair.
According to Arab Chamber Market Intelligence coordinator João Paulo Paixão, executives from Sudan and other North African countries are looking to buy basic goods like honey, soya bran, sugar and cotton, and finished goods including storage silos, agricultural machinery, door parts, aluminum window frames and pharmaceuticals. There have also been quotation requests involving other products.
“We have been visited by people interested in Brazilian agricultural machines, including crushers, and in food items such as coffee,” Paixão said. He is advertising the supermarket industry fair Apas, which is held annually in São Paulo, to local buyers from Tunisia and Algeria.
According to Paixão, Sudan’s government is encouraging suppliers from other countries to break into its sugar market. The country resumed importing sugar recently. Demand for the product is on the way up due to growing consumption by nationals, the rising number of Eritrean and Somali refugees, and because business owners in Sudan are re-exporting to other nations in Africa.
Paixão also attended a meeting between the fair’s organizers, delegates from participating companies and government technicians. During the meeting, the government officials outlined the advantages offered to companies that invest in the country’s free zones, including tax exemptions.
Fame, the shower company, has a 12 square-meter area in the Brazilian stand. The company is showcasing its electric showers, a product which is not widespread in Sudan yet. People in the country have questions regarding how the device works, how to avoid electric shocks and how to install it properly. This is not Fame’s first time at the event. The company already has a local representative.
Other major participating countries are Germany, Ethiopia and Tunisia. The Tunisians, for example, are offering agricultural products and manufactured equipment. The multisectorial event will continue until February 01.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
