Brazilian companies intensify their presence in the Gulf countries. In 2024, the total exports to the region amounted to $ 10.7 billion, while companies such as ABIPAR and JBS announced new investments in strategic locations such as Dubai and Jeddah.
Two modern examples: Ambipar, specialized in environmental emergency situations, which opened offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in the Emirates, and plans to establish a training center in the country; And JBS, which has just opened its second factory in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The movement is a reflection of decades of intensifying trade and diplomatic relations in Brazil with the region.
The total exports from the country to the bloc reached $ 10.7 billion by 2024, an increase of 14.7 % over the course of 2023, according to the Foreign Trade Secretariat (SECEX), and today many Brazilian companies maintain a financial presence there, with facilities ranging from factories, which pass through stores and concession centers.
These are trademarks such as Vale, BRF, Embraer, Weg, Tramontina, Ornare, Breton, Farm, Hawaiian and others. In Dubai alone, there are at least 30 Brazilian companies.
This trend also derives from factors such as the wealthy consumer market, access to other markets in the region and abroad, ease of business, decreased taxes and extensive financial resources.
“This is the time for being here and expanding services in the Gulf region,” said Rafael Tilo, Vice President of Ambarar, Rafael Tilo. After Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the company plans to enter the emirate in Sharjah. “They have a strong history of environmental fears. We are talking,” Tilo said.
JBS has already opened at the end of last year a new factory in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “This installation represents an investment of $ 50 million and aims to increase our productive capacity for valuable chicken products in the country,” the company said in a statement. JBS also has an industrial unit in the Saudi city of Damam.
The company follows the footsteps of the opponent BRF, the owner of the brands of Sadia and Perdigão, which has been present in the region since the 1970s, and began at least 15 years ago to obtain distribution companies and construction of factories there.
Food security and reciprocity
“The Middle East is a strategic area of JBS, and we are committed to enhancing our existence and contributing to food security in the region,” says JBS. Food security is a constant concern in these countries, most of them are arid. Such anxiety urges the attractiveness of foreign companies there and investing in companies abroad.
The Gulf countries also have strong plans to diversify their economies outside oil.
As consumers and investors, they ask for reciprocity from foreign companies. “They say this to some extent:” Look, for me to invest there in Brazil, you have to invest here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “says Thiago Sandim, a partner of integration, acquisitions and private shares in the Defense Office for the Da`wah, they need to generate local development.
“It was something about 15 years ago in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” he said.
Many Brazilian companies have signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation agreements with health institutions and companies in recent years, such as Embraer. The company says in a statement, “Embraer and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have studied a comprehensive and long -term partnership.”
“The region has always been important for Brazil, but the relative importance, in terms of trade and investments, has increased in recent years,” said APEX Brazil’s business manager.
The agency, which has an office in Dubai, in January, has signed an agreement with the Jabza Free Zone (Jafza), in the emirate, to create an incubator with the ability of 100 Brazilian companies. “We would like to take small and medium -sized companies. It is a market that allows business lifting.”
platform
In addition to serving the rich Gulf states, Brazilian companies were launched to reach other markets in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. “If you are not here, it is not in the world,” says the CEO of Ambipar and the Lide Group in Dubai, Rodrigo Paiva.
The Lide, which was created by the former governor of Saw Paulo Joao Doria, promoted events with entrepreneurs in the region. The next month is scheduled.
“Some companies realize that it is easier to produce and sell from here and take an effective commitment to production, not just import and resale,” says the Brazilian ambassador in Abu Dhabi.
It indicates that Brazil and the UAE have a “strategic partnership” that includes agreements to avoid weak double and facilitation, and the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the Arab nation in negotiation. “Relationships with Brazil are subject to transformation, their size is changed,” he added.
