SAO PAULO: Over 90 Brazilian companies will be exhibitors at the Gulfood expo as of February 26 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Gulfood is the Middle East’s premier food industry show, and the Brazilian-based enterprises plan on both finding new clients and building rapport with existing ones.
The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) will both have dedicated areas at the Gulfood. Poultry Company Nicolini will be there as well. Arab countries are its primary market: Nicolini sells frozen whole chicken with no offal and frozen cuts to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.
According to Nicolini export supervisor Janeiara Balbinot, the company attended Gulfood 2016 as a visitor, and this will be its first time as an exhibitor.
The goal is to broaden the contact network in order to increase the company’s share on the Arab market. “We hope to build closer ties with our buyers, to canvas for business opportunities and find new contacts,” Balbinot said.
Dom Glutão is another exhibitor. The beef company already supplies product to Arab countries such as Libya, Jordan, Iraq, the UAE, and Palestine, and this will be their first time at Gulfood.
The plan is to increase exports to Arab countries and thus increase output volume, Exports manager Yohana Spena said.
Foreign trade consulting firm Fitotrade has attended Gulfood on a regular basis since the early 1990s, when it went on business. Managing partner Rodolfo Gonzales Perez said Fitotrade does major business with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq, among other countries in the region and around the world. Fitotrade exports mostly poultry, beef, lamb and mutton, canned meat and sausages.
According to Perez, Gulfood is currently the biggest outlet for the company’s frozen and canned meats, and the best place to meet its clients all in one place.
“It always provides new opportunities, the new players are all there and brand new deals are available. Our expectation is, and always has been, to seek out and renew partnerships by spotting new trends in supply and demand,” he says.
South America Food (SAF) has been a visitor at Gulfood since 2011, and it will exhibit for the first time this year. A foreign trade company focusing on agriculture and livestock, it deals mostly in animal protein: beef, lamb and mutton, poultry and pork. It handles everything from sales planning to production, logistics, and delivery to importers.
SAF ships meats to Arab countries Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt. At Gulfood, it intends to find new suppliers and learn more about the local market.
Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun notes that Gulfood is the second biggest food industry exhibition in the world, and it caters to markets including the Arab countries and regions such as Asia and Europe.
Apart from having its own stand at the expo, the Arab Chamber will host a breakfast for the Brazilian exhibitors on February 27, in a bid to convey information on the local market.
