According to the firm's financial director, Neres Infante, the company exports mainly marble and granite plates and tiles. Exports by Thor Granitos started in 1991, to the United States, and some countries in Latin America.

A large part of the products traded by Thor are extracted from own mines. "The company has 20 mines in different locations in the North, Midwest and Southeast of Brazil, guaranteeing better supply to customers in terms of time and quality," said Infante.

According to him, this differential also makes if possible for the company to provide price estimates to constructions and projects, offering granite without volume or quality restraints, with special attention to the Labrador Green, Peacock Jade, New Venetian Gold, New Venetian Wave, Giallo São Francisco and Golden King lines.

To maintain the quality of the material from the moment of extraction, the company counts on an industrial park with state-of-the-art machinery and equipment made in Italy, by the most renowned companies in the sector. "Diggers, loaders, ovens, exclusive machinery like polishers and chisels offer high performance in the production process, guaranteeing greater quality to the finished product," explained the director.

To win new clients in Brazil and abroad, the company usually participates in fairs in the sector in Brazil, like Vitória Stone Fair, in Espí­rito Santo and Construir, in Rio de Janeiro. Apart from that, the company usually closely checks construction fairs in Germany, in the United States and in Italy.

The Arab countries purchased a small share of the total exported by Thor, around 5%, but the target is to expand sales to the region in the near future. "They are markets with great buying power and where we have much space to grow," said Infante.

On the domestic market, the company is already present in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espí­rito Santo, Pernambuco, São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Goiás and the Federal District. The products offered to domestic and foreign clients are: granite plates, calibrated tiles and finished works.

Established in September 1986 in the city of Itaboraí­, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, as an ornamental stone extracting, processing and trade company, Thor Granitos is now a prominent group in the sector of ornamental stone and the main exporter of processed granite in Latin America.

Service

Thor Granitos e Mármores
Telephone: (+55 21) 2645.9500
Site: www.thorgranitos.com.br

Anba

Trading company WK, based in the city of Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná, which works with wood products, received an order from a distributor of construction material from Dubai. "It was a good order," said the sales director at the company from Paraná, Igor Kaufeld.

Dividing the space at the stand with him is Damaris Eugênia ívila da Costa, director at trading company Braseco. She received visitors interested in glasses, metal tiles and ceramic tiles. The clients were from the Emirates, Lebanon, and African countries.

Another person who was satisfied with the first day was Diogo Resende, of Atlas, a company from the state of Rio Grande do Sul that manufactures painting equipment. "It was great, the structure of the stand helped, but our placement was essential," he said.

The Brazilian space is located near one of the main entrances to the exhibition pavilion of the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC).

Resende claims to have made good contacts that "are going to turn into actual sales." Most sought products were brushes, and the main interested parties were distributors from the Middle East. "They are interested in quality, in order to add value to their product portfolio," he said.

In tun, the director at Lockwell, a company that makes door handles and locks, Gerson Galeazi, stated that, judging from attendance in the first day, the Big 5 has proved better than other international events that he has participated in. The company has already gone on trade missions to Argentina and Panama. "This fair is by far the one that generates the greatest expectations," he stated.

Galeazi said that some of the visitors became interested in purchasing the sample items. The products that attracted the most attention, according to him, were a new line, featuring details in certified wood, and golden models.

Most of the contacts were made with representatives of construction companies and storeowners, according to Galeazi. He also said that the businessmen seek to secure their supplies, therefore during the fair the executive is going to make contacts in order to appoint a local agent.

In the area of granites, Granibras received visitors who made a point of coming back for further talks. "It was good, we had lots of visits," said the CEO at the company based in the city of São Paulo, Paulo Sérgio Gasparini. He was taken aback by the popularity of items regarded as exotic, such as the Golden Persa, a stone of orange tone with black stripes that is extracted in the state of Bahia.

Granibras is participating in the da Big 5 for the first time and mostly received traders and engineers.

And who is to say that electric showers only exist in Brazil? According to the export manager at Lorenzetti, Renato Nakasubo, there was great interest in the models traditionally manufactured by the company, as they are small and warm up bathing water at a low cost.

"The product is already well internationalized," he said. Most of the visitors were consultants who sell to construction companies. The company wants to make direct sales for the real estate developers, and received people from the Emirates, Iran, Syria, Libya and Angola.

Lorenzetti also brought to the fair its line of bathroom metals, but in that field, according to Nakasubo, competition is fierce.

By the way, competition is going on even within the Brazilian stand. Poly, which also manufactures metals, received heavyweight visitors from Kuwait and Egypt, who were mainly interested in hygienic showers. According to the company representative, Denis Perez Martins, importers should return in the coming days.

The fair opened late in the morning. The inauguration was made by the deputy ruler of Dubai, Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He walked around the pavilion and stopped at several stands, among them that of Brazil, where he was welcomed by the Marketing vice president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Rubens Hannun, the secretary general, Michel Alaby, and directors Bechara Ibrahim and Nahid Chicani.

Maktoum asked how many companies are exhibiting, what their products are, and how many times has Brazil participated in the exhibition. In total, the stand has 37 exhibitors, and this is the sixth time that the country is represented in the Big 5. The space is organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex).

Anba

Promoted by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), the roundtables should generate a turnover of US$ 3.5 million in business deals.

In all, 117 companies will participate in the roundtables, of which 96 are Brazilian, from the states of Espí­rito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia and São Paulo and 21 international purchasing companies. The meetings will carry on until tomorrow at the Social Service for Commerce (Sesc) in Guarapari, city in Espí­rito Santo.

Espí­rito Santo is the main producer and exporter of ornamental rocks in Brazil. The sector generates about 20,000 direct jobs and another 130,000 indirect jobs, covering all cities in the state. The state is responsible for 62% (in dollars) of Brazilian exports, 54% (in tons) of the volume exported.

Anba

BMG is establishing itself in Miami Free Zone, in Florida, USA. The idea is to make the site not only a window, but also a center from where counters and marble and granite floors produced in Curitiba may reach US consumers.

BMG is going to be housed in the distribution center that the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex), connected to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, installed in Miami Free Zone.

Inaugurated on May 16 2005, the Miami distribution center offers operational and administrative support to Brazilian companies, and has an area of 1,000 square meters, divided into storage space, showroom, offices and meeting rooms.

Up to now, a total of 92 companies are installed at the site. Another 130 are waiting in line. Due to the demand, expansion of the area is already being studied.

From last year to date, industries in the marble and granite sector in the metropolitan region of Curitiba have already exported over 120 tons of lavatory and kitchen counters, for a total of US$ 130,000. There is also the forecast of a 40-ton a month supply contract to a buyer in Detroit.

These are memorable achievements as North American customers are only just discovering the advantages of putting ornamental stones in their houses. "They are only now starting to use marble and granite," explained José Georgevan Gomes de Araújo, president of the Union of the Marble and Granite Industries of the state of Paraná (Simagran).

The two most used articles for kitchen and bathroom sink counters in the United States are still tiles and "corean", a resin produced by French multinational company DuPont. One of the reasons that caused the North American customer to prefer them was the price.

The discovery of new veins of ornamental stones, an improvement in the industrial process and expansion of productivity, however, are factors that are contributing to a reduction in the price of the end product. "It is getting better priced. The middle class there is starting to consume marble and granite," revealed the president of the Simagran.

To this may be added the aspect of the economic situation in the United States. The growth is generating an expansion in business in various sectors, especially in those that are directly of interest to businessmen from the state of Paraná:

"Perspectives are good, as they are currently living a good moment in civil construction," analyzed Antônio Humia Dorrio, the owner of Revestimentos Gres, based in Curitiba and on the market for over 40 years. Exports to the North American market are still taking place "at a starting rhythm", but they have great chances of growth, he bets.

Preparation

The marble works in the metropolitan region of Curitiba are maneuvering so as to surf this tide. Preparations started two years ago when Imagran, Tambaú, Margon, Marmopark, Marmoraria Benato, Revestimentos Gres, Marmoraria Vardânega, Costacurta, Dutra’s Pedras and ELF Mármores established a pool of companies, which resulted in the creation of BMG.

With the technical and financial support of the Apex, the partners joined forces, standardized procedures and invested in personnel training and in end product quality.

A focus on production management, unification of production processes – obtained through the use of common tools – and on an increase in the purchase volume – which guaranteed better price negotiations on inputs and raw materials – increased company competitiveness.

Being in the Miami distribution center may be seen as a corollary of this process. It means expansion of business opportunities to levels that are currently only imagined.

"Operating there is a great impulse for the company. It becomes better known and gains experience," observed the president of the Simagran.

Access of BMG to the Miami Free Zone is becoming more viable thanks to negotiations between the marble and granite sector and the federal government.

Over the last two years the Brazilian Association for Dimension Stones Industry (Abirochas) and the Apex have been talking with the objective of promoting sector foreign sales. It was not a coincidence that in this period the ten companies in the state of Paraná joined forces.

As it is a customs warehouse, clearance of the products for export is done in a more agile and concentrated manner. Apart from that, the fact that the product is already in the country where the sale will be made speeds up delivery and helps guarantee efficient post-sales.

Another benefit is the economy of scale. The union of various companies in the same space also makes better negotiations with Miami Free Zone possible and this price reduction is passed onto the businessman and, in the long run, to the end user.

The Miami distribution center is the first of a series that the Brazilian federal government wants to install around the world through the Apex.

Omar Nasser is from the Fiep (Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná).

Anba – www.anba.com.br

China removed import duties on granite. This opens new perspectives for Brazil, one of the biggest exporters of this type of rock, which is used to give finishing touches to building construction.