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Nadir Figueiredo, a producer of glass utensils for household use and industrial packages, based in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, has 40% of the participation in the Brazilian glass tableware market and exports to over 120 countries.
The main markets for the company exports, which started in the 1980's and currently represent 15% of company revenues, are the countries in South America, North America, Africa, the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Apart from producing glasses, wine glasses, plates, teacup and other products for household use, Nadir Figueiredo also operates in the sector of glass packages, such as pots and bottles, for industrial use.
With 1,750 employees, the company has two factories: one in the city of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil, where they have four furnaces that are responsible for around 80% of production, and another in the city of Rio de Janeiro, also in the southeast, where they operate just one furnace.
Investments
In 2004, Nadir Figueiredo completed investments of approximately US$ 23.9 million in the modernization of the five furnaces they operate in their two units. Part of the funds were provided by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), a share of US$ 10.7 million.
With the implementation of the project, the company increased its productive capacity from 460 tons to 505 tons per day. Apart from the improvement of company competitiveness, the investments guaranteed the maintenance of jobs in the two company units, as the furnaces were operating at the limit of their productive capacity.
Around 60% of these investments are turned to increasing company participation on the domestic market, according to information supplied by the company directory. One of the weapons to win consumers, both in Brazil and on the foreign market, is the frequent release of new products.
Approximately 20% of company annual revenues come from the releases. Glasses are the main products made by Nadir Figueiredo, but the company has approximately 400 items in the line, that is not considering different versions of the same product.
The company plans to expand exports to the Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa in 2005. The strategy is to participate in sector fairs in the region, where the company has a partnership with local representatives.
"The company policy is to work for the partner to grow. If it grows, our exports automatically grow," stated Leila Inácio da Silva, the Nadir Figueiredo trader.
According to her, next year the company will certainly be present in at least one fair in the region. "We are already researching what the best event is to make Nadir Figueiredo products even better known on the Arab market," guaranteed Leila.
According to her, up to 2001 sales to Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco were sporadic.
"Sales to the region rose significantly in the last three years. We want to take advantage of this good moment to export even more" she explained.
The sector
According to figures supplied by the Brazilian Technical Association of Glass Industries (Abividro), the glass industry production in Brazil had a turnover of US$ 1.2 billion in 2003, of which US$ 378 million, or 31.1% of sector revenues, came from packages.
Sheet glass, the most consumed by the auto industry, answered to 29.1% of business and technical glass to 26.9%, among which are those used for the civil construction industry, for filtering heat. The domestic products, in which glasses and plates are included, answered to 12.9% of sector revenues in 2003.
The sector employs 12,500 people and has been presenting significant growth in recent years, which stimulates investment. In 2003 the total was US$ 107.2 million, and in 2004, US$ 122.9 million.
Contact
www.nadir.com.br
ANBA – Brazil-Arab News Agency
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