Brazil Export Program Posts Another Success
CACHOEIRO DO ITAPEMIRIM, Brazil – The Export More Brazil program sparked a burst of business for natural stone during a trade event here last month.
Negotiation meetings including 24 Brazilian stone companies and nine international buyers during Cachoeiro Stone Fair on Aug. 22-24 led to deals totaling R$15 million (USD $3.03 million) for the next 12 months.
The deals came as the second stage of Export More Brazil, a program spearheaded by the trade-promotion agency ApexBrasil and stone association Centrorochas.
Overall, there were more than 150 meetings, held between natural stone companies in the Brazilian states of Espírito Santo. Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraná and mainly Espírito Santo Espírito Santo is the leading Brazilian state in the production and foreign trade of natural stones: in 2022 alone, it accounted for 81.8% of all sales from Brazil to the international market.
The international buyers hailed from Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Argentina, and South Africa.
Centrorochas, along with event producer Milanez & Milaneze, recruited the 24 Brazilian companies that participated in the business meetings.
The program included an opening ceremony and export presentation at the headquarters of the Confederation of Manufacturing Companies of the state of Espírito Santo (FINDES), in Vitória.
The schedule included a trip to Imil’s marble quarry to monitor the extraction process up close and visits to companies to understand the manufacturing process, the technology used and the evolution of the industry in terms of sustainability. The participants also visited the natural-stone companies Magban, Angramar, Decolores, Pettrus, Margramar, and Marbrasa.
Jean-Pierre Pieterse of South African company JP Marble Classic, , was part of the team of buyers participating in the program.
“My experience here in Brazil was great,” he said. “I did not expect to see such a wide variety of colors available. I am grateful to ApexBrasil and to Cachoeiro Stone Fair for bringing us here and showing us a wonderful reality. We look forward to engaging with Brazilian stones and the companies we were honored to visit here,” he said.
The stage of the program Export More Brazil in Espírito Santo took place along with the 32nd edition of Cachoeiro Stone Fair, the largest business showcase in the Brazilian stone market. With the theme “Step into the future,” the fair aimed to inspire visitors to broaden their horizons.
The event was organized by Milanez & Milaneze, a company of the group Veronafiere; promoted by the Association of Natural Stone, Lime and Limestone Companies in the state of Espírito Santo (Sindirochas) and the Technological Center of Marble and Granite (Cetemag); supported by Centrorochas and sponsored by the cooperative bank Sicoob.
With more than 1,200 varieties of materials, Brazil is the fourth-largest producer of natural stones in the world and the fifth-largest exporter of this product. In 2021, the sector broke a historic record in exports, with revenues of USD $1.33 billion and year-over-year growth of approximately 36%, the best rate in 18 years. In 2022, the segment exported USD $1.28 billion and is the leading natural-stone supplier in the
It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone is an export promotion program developed by the Brazilian Center of Natural Stone Exporters (Centrorochas) in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil). The program aims to encourage and increase exports of Brazilian natural stones, through a set of strategic internationalization actions with actions geared towards promotion, strengthening of the image and development of the industry in the global market.
