São Paulo – The Brazilian supermarket chain St Marche, with 18 stores in high-income districts in the São Paulo metro area, has attended the Elite Buyers Program, the B2B event organized by Dubai Exports. The event held by the export promotion agency of the emirate took place on August 15 and 16, as reported by ANBA this Thursday (30).
According to St Marche’s imports manager, José Bezerra de Menezes (in the picture above, in the middle), the company is interested in importing products from the United Arab Emirates. “Since the Arab community in São Paulo is one of the largest, we decided to check if we can find products for this group,” he said to ANBA via email.
The Brazilian company attended the event after an invitation by Dubai Exports. It gathered 11 international buyers from six countries with 54 companies from the emirate. In addition to Brazil, there were importers from Hong Kong, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Menezes said that St Marche is interested in importing goods such as chocolates, dates and snacks. “I believe that we can make deals with two companies: Hunter and Chocolate,” he said.
Hunter Foods produces a wide range of snacks, plus cookies, granola, walnuts and almonds, croutons and other food products. Chocolate is known for its dates filled with almonds and covered in chocolate.
Menezes said that the first contact he has made with Dubai companies was during the trade expo of the São Paulo Supermarkets Association (Apas Show). Dubai Exports brought ten companies to the country, which later exhibited their products at the stand set up by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
He added that the chain has never imported products directly from Arab countries. “Dubai would be the first and, if everything goes according to plan, we can continue to prospect,” he said.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
