São Paulo – Vila Rica, a medium-sized furniture producer in the city of Arapongas started exporting to Algeria last month. According to the export manager at the company, Camila Rodrigues, shipments to the African-Arab country included two containers of furniture, with the entire line of company products. Vila Rica produces bedroom and sitting room furniture, like racks, bookshelf-racks, wardrobes and beds. The products are popular.
The export complies with the new regulations for imports of furniture into Algeria, put in place in August. The legislation calls for certification for the furniture to enter the country, included are a series of requirements, from boxes with text in Arabic or French, assembly manuals in both languages, quality certification and resistance certification, among others. Vila Rica, according to Camila, adapted product certification over a period of a month and a half. “And we delivered the products in time,” said the manager.
The arrival of furniture in the Arab country, forecasted for this week, should even count on a celebration. The distributor responsible for the import should promote a cocktail next week to present the new products to its retail clients. Before the closing of the deal, Vila Rica had a long relationship with the potential client, met in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Catalogues and samples were sent before the closing of the deal. Camila visited fairs in the sector, in the Emirates, last year.
Exports, in fact, are recent for Vila Rica. The factory started exporting little under a year ago and decided, once having taken the decision to become a player on the foreign market, that the Arab nations would be a priority. “We already have contacts in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Libya and Egypt,” said Camila. The strategy forecasts the search for Arab markets in North Africa and also in the Middle East, but the manager believes that among the most promising countries for the company furniture are Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan and Dubai, in the Emirates.
Despite entry into the foreign market being recent, Vila Rica is a traditional maker of furniture. It has been in the market for 21 years and the production capacity is 18,000 items a month. Exports answer to around 5% of production. But the company target is to double the volume by 2010. Currently, apart from Algeria, buyers of company furniture include Namibia, South Africa, Argentina and Mozambique.
Vila Rica is a family business. It was established by two cousins, José Munoz Sanches and Vicente Lopes Munhoz Sanches, of Spanish origin. The company started shyly, as a carpentry workshop, and currently employs 250 people. Both still manage the company, José in the presidency and Vicente as the industrial and design director, but the second generation of the family is already in the management.
Contact
Telephone: (+55 43) 3172-1005
Site: www.vilarica.ind.br
E-mail: export@vilarica.ind.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
