São Paulo – The United Arab Emirates have been selected as a priority market for commercial activities of the Brazilian aerospace sector from 2011 to 2012. This week, the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) and the Centre for Competitiveness and Innovation of the São Paulo East Cone (Cecompi) renewed an Integrated Sector Project (PSI) agreement for the promotion of sector exports and elected the main target markets for sales.
The focus of the partnership is to expand the number of exporters in the sector. Currently, of the 60 companies that are in the PSI, just six export. Among the companies participating in the project, there are representatives of the aeronautics sector, space and defence, as well as makers of structural parts (with milling, composite material, aero structures, interiors, avionics, navigation tools and military equipment, etc.), services (engineering, consultancy, training, research and development, assembly and flight simulators, etc) and also small aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
According to Mariana Gomes, the project manager at Cecompi, UAVs and aeronautics parts for the defence sector are the Brazilian products with the greatest chances in the Arab country. "This is the first time that they [the Emirates] enter the project. This is a chance for companies to diversify their clients. The technical training we have here is short of none," he said. "There are also opportunities for partnerships with companies here, granting them access to organisations here. It is a market still little explored by Brazil," she said. Currently, the main markets for Brazilian sector exports are Europe, specially France, Belgium and Portugal, and the United States.
With regard to the space sector, Mariana explained that it still has a small share if compared to the aeronautics sector. "The idea is to develop more work to attract this sector [to the foreign market]". According to the manager at Cecompi, 80% of the companies in the project are Embraer suppliers.
The first agreement between Apex and Cecompi, for the years of 2009 and 2010, generated US$ 38 million in sector exports. "We hope that this year the total should rise 5% and, next year, 10%", said Márcio Almeida, Project manager at Apex. For this, the agreement should include investment of US$ 4.8 million.
According to Mariana, for 2011 participation in large sector fairs is forecasted, including the Paris Airshow, in France, LAAD Defense & Security, in Rio de Janeiro, Labace, in São Paulo, and NBAA, in Las Vegas, in the United States. For 2012, prospecting missions should start, and the United Arab Emirates should be included. The other markets elected as priority were the United States, Spain, Canada, France, Chile, Germany and Portugal.
*Translated by Mark Ament
