{"id":209542,"date":"2019-02-19T01:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=209542"},"modified":"2019-06-30T11:58:41","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T14:58:41","slug":"gulfood-consolidates-its-importance-for-brazilian-beef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/gulfood-consolidates-its-importance-for-brazilian-beef\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulfood consolidates its importance for Brazilian beef"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dubai \u2013 \u201cAbout 30% of the volume exported by Brazilian slaughterhouses goes to the Arab world, so our presence in Gulfood is more to consolidate this market,\u201d said the executive director of the Brazilian Beef Exports Association (ABIEC<\/a>, acronym in Portuguese) Li\u00e8ge Nogueira in an interview to ANBA in the second day of Gulfood in Dubai this Monday (18). The largest markets of Brazil in the beef sector in the region are Egypt, Iran (which is not Arab but is in the Middle East), and Saudi Arabia, and its biggest competition are the United States, Australia, and India \u2013 this last one with buffalo meat, according to the director.<\/p>\n

ABIEC is present in with an area in the meat pavilion of APEX-Brazil<\/a> in Gulfood, with small- and medium-size companies from the sector. Marfrig, JBS, and Minerva Foods, which are large-scale companies (slaughtering more than 1,000 cattle per day) have their own stands, near the APEX pavilion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrazil meets the two biggest demands in quality with its exports, which are texture, softness and taste to the final consumer and the food sanitary and security norms,\u201d explained Nogueira. According to the director, Egypt bought 17% more Brazilian beef in 2018 compared to the previous year. \u201cThe drop in purchases in the end of the year is natural, but even so there was a growth, and the Muslim countries usually buy great volumes one to two months before Ramadan to stock up,\u201d she says. Ramadan<\/a> is a one-month period where Muslins fast from sunrise to sundown and its date follows the Islamic lunar calendar; this year it will start in May 5 and ends in June 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cGulfood is already seen as a global fair, we receive people from all over the world, Asians, Europeans, and it became an annual meeting place, since the two biggest fairs in the sector \u2013 ANUGA in Germany and SIAL Paris in France \u2013 are biennial and take turns,\u201d declared Nogueira, stressing that ABIEC has participated in the Gulf event for eight years. \u201cThe fair is great, very busy; we are receiving a lot of visits, we already made deals with Iran,\u201d she reported about the sales of the companies present in ABIEC\u2019s stand.<\/p>\n

For Rada Saleh, partner director of the Ramax Group<\/a>, these first days of Gulfood are more for talks. The deals themselves are signed from the third day on, according to him. \u201cThe first, second day are talk, talk, talk and walk,\u201d said the businessman, comparing it to window shopping. \u201cIn this early stage, visitors are talking and price shopping, but tomorrow they start taking decisions. Let\u2019s wait,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, the deals are only closed after the fair,\u201d said Ruy Corte, director of Dom Glut\u00e3o<\/a>, beef company that has a space in the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s stand. He says Gulfood is very important to get in touch with potential clients and strengthen ties with those who already buy their products. \u201cTurnover today is already better than it was yesterday. We talked to clients and people from Iraq UAE, Oman, Palestine, and even China and Kosovo,\u201d he tells.<\/p>\n