Brazilian exports to U.S. moving cautiously, slowly
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, September 23, 2001
SAO PAOLO, Brazil — While most manufacturers here say that exporting to the United States sounds like an opportunity worth exploring, only a few dozen have laid the groundwork for international sales, and just a handful have taken action.
There appears to be no single strategy. While some Brazilian companies such as Renar, Niroflex and Sierra Moveis have already established High Point showrooms, most others have been happy to supply distributors who have U.S. sales networks already established.
For instance, Carraro and Artefamo, two of the largest Brazilian factories, are major suppliers to Linon, which supplies leading discount chains, department stores and specialty shops with affordable lifestyle furniture.
Marcelo Frey, president of Renar, which shows with another Brazilian producer, Ratta, in the Center Point building in High Point, says his company and most others must proceed cautiously. "Ours is a family-owned industry. We are not huge $1 billion corporations," said Frey, whose company makes laminate case goods for Brazilian consumption but pine bedrooms for U.S. retailers. "We don't believe in marriage between an elephant and an ant."
Frey, who has a sales office in Miami, is looking to create a South Florida distribution center for Renar. "We're trying to build a business step by step so that people know that we are reliable," he said.
Because of the European heritage of many of the Brazilian factory owners, trade relationships with Europe are often further along than those with the United States. "My grandfather was Italian," said Silvio Sandrin, export director for Moveis Sandrin. "The relationship between us and the Europeans is easier for us to understand."
Sandrin has been exporting for two decades, and more than a third of its sales are export, although none to the United States. However, Sandrin went to the Tupelo market last month to see what opportunities might exist for either his flat-pack furniture or his line of pine case goods and bunk beds.
Oggi, a line of juvenile furniture produced by Moveis Gaudencio, is making a big push in North America, having based Luciano Juchem in High Point as director of U.S. sales. The company is going to show at both the JPMA show this fall and then in High Point next spring, while also setting up a warehouse in North Carolina and in the Southwest.
"We will keep inventory there," Juchem said. "We will manage the inventory, and we will work with the reps. There's no doubt (the United States) is the best market in the world. But it's also very competitive, and you have to have service if you want to compete successfully."
Moveis Perola and its pine promotional division Incema is a veteran exporter, with all of its products sold outside Brazil, including several items for the JCPenney catalog. Franklin Sternberg, director of sales and export, said Perola is setting up a partnership with a Florida distributor. "It should be very promising for the next year, but we have to be careful how we approach it," he said.
Sternberg said he is targeting the East Coast because the cost of shipping to the West Coast may be prohibitive. While he can get a container to the Port of Miami for $2,000, it would cost him $3,000 to send that same container to Long Beach, Calif., putting Perola at a big disadvantage with Malaysian producers, for instance, who can land a container in Southern California for about $1,000.
And quite a few other Brazilian producers are gearing up in the hopes of doing some or more business with the United States, where furniture factories are closing and imports are rising.
"The next 10 years around here should be pretty exciting," said Frey from Renar. "The amount of change should be tremendous."
| At the Fenavem show in Sao Paolo last month, the styling and finish on this bedroom from Movelar seemed to most closely match what sells in the United States. |
| Casa Verde, also planning a U.S. distribution facility, shows the flat-line production capabilities evident at many Brazilian factories. |
| Moveis Perola is a full-line case goods and occasional resource hitting affordable middle price points. |
| Sandrin's pine bunk is set to retail for $199 while the pine queen platform bed can be promoted at $99 |
| This pine loft bed with study and storage is from Incema, a subsidiary of Moveis Perola. |
| Renar's Willow Creek pine bedroom collection can be seen in High Point next month. The company also has a Mission collection. |
| A major resource to Linon, Carraro's casual furniture is made from eucalyptus, one of the renewable forest resources in Brazil. |
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