Trade representative Alexandre Bonavita, from the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, wants to sell raw kebabs to the Arab countries. Bonavita is the trade representative for a company from the interior of the state of São Paulo, also in the southeast, which manufactures halal certified kebabs.
The certification attests that the meat was prepared and the animals were slaughtered in accordance with Muslim law.
The raw kebabs are made of chicken and bovine meat, according to Bonavita. He has already been exporting the company's kebabs to African and European countries for approximately two years. The product is vacuum packed and the meat is sold on bamboo skewers.
Foreign buyers of the merchandise, according to Bonavita, are importers who distribute to supermarkets. The meat in kebabs, he said, is not consumed only in celebrations, in the form of barbecue, but in everyday life as well.
According to Bonavita, the industry that supplies the product has been in the market since 1974. Interest in selling to the Middle East emerged this year, he says. Bonavita believes that there is a market for meat kebabs in the region.
Several Brazilian companies and slaughterhouses are already traditional suppliers of chicken and cattle meat to the Arab market. Brazil is the global leader in bovine meat exports, having exported the equivalent to US$ 3.7 billion in 2006.
Over two million tons were shipped to more than 180 countries. Egypt, an African Arab country, was the second largest importer of Brazilian raw cattle beef, with US$ 339.9 million and 271,700 tons.
Chicken meat exports amounted to US$ 3.2 billion in 2006, with shipments of 2.71 million tons. Also in the segment, the Arabs are standing out as consumers.
The Middle East was the largest foreign consumer market for Brazilian chicken meat, volume-wise, with 754,720 tons imported, at the value of US$ 821 million. The second largest market in terms of volume was Asia.
Contact
Alexandre Bonavita
E-mail: alexandrebonavita@terra.com.br
Anba
