Nitriflex wins €80 000 sale in Egypt

By Simona Stankovska, ERJ reporter

São Paulo, Brazil -- Nitriflex, a NBR and SBR speciality products producer has sold 50 tonnes worth of products to an Egyptian shoe company for €80 000.

Last month Nitriflex joined a Brazilian group of enterprises that travelled to North Africa as part of a joint effort between Apex (the Brazilian promotion agency for exportation) and CCAB (the Arabic chamber of commerce in Brazil) to develop Brazilian business partnerships and attract customers among the region.

As part of the trip Márcio Lario, the export manager at Nitriflex met with one of the company's customers, who decided to turn distributor, and signed the deal.

“We believe that the Egyptian market is growing fast,” said Lario in a 5 July email to ERJ. “As it is a little known market, businessmen here often do not believe what is going on there in terms of business. The region is growing on average 5 percent per year, in the last 5 to 6 years, this is enough to understand that there is good potential to be developed,” he added.

The agreement is part of the company's strategic plan and Lario believes that it will “increase Nitriflex's market share in the rubber business.

The company plans to grow in Egypt and other North African regions by providing a quality, local service. “We have a strong technical assistance team in order to help customers in their product developments, and we believe that we have found the right partners,” said Lario.

São Paulo, Brazil-based Nitriflex also has an employee in Brussels who provides technical support to customers in Europe.

Exporting from Brazil has been complicated this year according to Lario, who says that the Brazilian currency (Real) has gained against the US$ and the Euro in the last two years, and this has increased competition. He did say though that the world is currently going through a high and demanding point of consumption, which is helping the company.

Nitriflex distributes in 46 countries around the world, including Europe, the US, Asia, Australia, Japan Africa and Latin America. It was established 36 years ago through a joint venture between Petrobras and Goodyear, and is now privately owned.