São Paulo Brazil, March 24, 2006--The Middle East may become the main market for the Brazilian ceramic tile producer Cerâmica Porto Ferreira.
"The region is very prosperous, we can feel the smell of gold," said Carlos de Oliveira, a trader at the company. He just returned to Brazil from the Middle East.
During one month he visited seven Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait.
Oliveira says he sold 39 containers, about US$ 140,000, in ceramic tiles during the journey and is feeling quite optimistic in relation to the future of business with the Arab buyers.
"Exports to the Arab countries started two years ago, but it was only in September last year that the company started investing more heavily in opening the Arab market," said Oliveira. "In this short period of time, we have obtained such great receptivity that in one year the Middle East may become the main destination market for Porto Ferreira's exports," he added.
According to him, based on research carried out in the Arab countries, Porto Ferreira developed a special line with differentiated drawings, colours and textures. "The surveys on trends allowed the development department at Porto Ferreira to create, with a very Brazilian touch, an exclusive line for the Middle East," emphasises Oliveira.
Porto Ferreira started their external sales 12 years ago. Today about 40% of the company's revenues come from exports. The main destination is the United States.
In 1931 a group from São Paulo headed by the Djalma Forjaz founded in the city of Porto Ferreira, located about 200 kilometres from São Paulo, a small tile factory that received the name of the city: Cerâmica Porto Ferreira.
Today the company employs about 300 people, has a built on more than 50,000 square metres and a plot of about 300,000 square metres. Their production capacity is 8.4 million square metres of ceramic products per year (floor and wall tiles) for the civil construction sector.
