São Paulo – The cane spirit by Brazilian brand Ypióca has started being sold in Morocco, North Africa. According to information disclosed by a spokesperson for the company, Heloísa Telles, the first shipment from the country took place in December last year, and the product was sold for consumption in hotels, bars, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs. The product is geared at tourists, as most of the Moroccan population is Muslim and does not consume alcoholic beverages.
According to Heloísa, negotiations began in the second half of last year, by recommendation of a brand importer in France. "With the evolution of contacts we sent an international manager to Morocco to conclude the negotiations in person," said the director. According to the executive, the company is now negotiating sales of Ypióca in other Arab countries, like the United Arab Emirates.
The company plans to increase exports by 20% this year when compared to 2008. Currently, the products are exported to over 40 countries, among them Germany, Portugal, Spain, France, England, Greece, Sweden, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Japan, China, the United States, Israel and Mozambique.
The foreign market, in truth, is not new to Ypióca, which started exporting in 1968. The first market opened was Germany. In 1971, the cane spirit started being sold to the United States, and in 1978 came Denmark, then Italy and so on. The company’s main markets abroad, currently, are Spain, France and the United States, where Ypióca was the first Brazilian cane spirit to arrive.
Heloísa attributed the company’s good performance in its main markets to a partnership with importers and to their efforts and investment in the brand. In Brazil, Ypióca cane spirit and other top brands are usually offered as presents to foreign authorities at embassies and official events. Ypióca has already been presented, for example, to the presidents of Panama and Honduras.
Apart from growth abroad, the company also has plans to sell more Brazilian cane spirit. "We expect to end the year with growth of between 10% and 12%," said Heloísa. Ypióca has installed capacity for production of 126 million litres a year. Manufacturing takes place in five factories, four in Ceará and one in Rio Grande do Norte. In the second half of this year, a fifth unit should be inaugurated, in Ceará. The company also has plantations of sugarcane, its main raw material.
The company was born in 1846 as an initiative of Portuguese immigrant Dario Telles de Menezes, who named the cane spirit Ypióca at the time. In the beginning, production totalled 30 litres a day. The company is still in the hands of the same family, currently in the fourth generation. Ypióca became a large industrial group, with operations in paper and cardboard, PET and PVC bottles, mineral water, agriculture, distribution services, transportation and telemarketing.
Contact:
Ypióca
Telephone: (+55 88) 3216 8888
Site: www.ypioca.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
