São Paulo – The Brazilian office of the Canadian Export Packers Company plans to increase sales and expand the market in the Arab world. The trading company’s headquarters in Brazil are in Blumenau, in Santa Catarina state, and the organisation exports to 70 countries, among them Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman. According to the company’s commodity trader in Brazil, Daniel Schültz Machado, the Arab market currently represents 5% of the office’s meat sales. The target, however, is to increase this percentage to 10% in five to ten years.
The Export Packers office in Blumenau was inaugurated in April last year and one of the reasons for establishment was the generation of closer ties with suppliers, as well as to strengthen sales to the Arab world, a market which the company supplied from Brazil even before having an office in the country. “Export Packers is investing and betting on exports to the Arab countries,” said Machado. According to him, despite the percentage of sales to the region still being small, the company sees the Arab market as strategic.
Sales to the region are mainly chicken and beef. "There is a small volume of pork, which is only manipulated by clients who comply with rigorous norms, including independent transport, storage and manipulation, in order for there to be no contact with halal beef and chicken,” explained Machado.
To manage to increase exports to the region, the Brazilian Export Packers office became an associate at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and plans to visit the buyer market, as well as participating in international fairs. Last week, Machado participated in business roundtables with food buyers from the Arab market, organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber, and, in the first half, in the Gulfood, a food sector fair that took place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
As a member of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Export Packers plans, among other benefits, to have market information. "We believe that the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is an important tool for prospection, and provides safety in activities developed in the Arab world,” said Machado. He also mentions the results of the business roundtables. “We were pleased with the quality and organisation of the event, and with the excellent level of the clients and buyers,” he said.
The Brazilian Export Packers works with the purchase and retail of products, mainly meats. The products are purchased at small, medium and large slaughterhouses in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Brazil is the main supplier. The office occasionally also sells grain, but the focus of the business is beef, explained Machado. In the Arab world, apart from the Trading division, which operates in meats, grain, juice, fruit and frozen vegetables, Export Packers also has the Seafood division.
Last year, the company’s Trading division sold 12,500 containers worldwide, mainly meats. Export Packers Company, a family business, was established in 1937 and has annual sales of US$ 800 million. Apart from the offices in Canada, in Toronto Greater Area, the company has offices in Brazil, Hong Kong, Macedonia and the United States.
Contact
Export Packers Company Limited
Telephone: (+55 47) 3237-2880
E-mail: daniel_machado@exportpackers.com
Site: www.exportpackers.com
*Translated by Mark Ament
