MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK seafood corps target Brazil, net fish importer

Carrefour's Geraldo Cosentino (C) and UKTI's David Lilley (R) are helping to forge seafood trade ties between Brazil and the UK

The representatives of a group of Humber seafood firms met with their counterpart from one of the globe's largest retailers, France's Carrefour, in a joint bid to establish trade ties with Brazil.

Geraldo Antonio Cosentino, perishable director for the north east region for Carrefour, recently met with executives from Hessle firm J Marr (Seafood), Hull-based Simpsons Seafood and Grimsby company Fastnet at the World Trade Centre Hull and Humber (WTC) in the UK, the Hull Daily Mail reports. Brazil, which has changed from a net fish exporter to a net importer, is home to more than 150 supermarkets owned by the Carrefour Group. "Meat prices in Brazil are getting higher, so there are great opportunities for companies in the seafood industry", said Cosentino, The encounter was arranged by government agency UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), which has categorized Brazil as a High Growth Market. David Lilley, UKTI international trade team manager, commented: "As part of the UKTI strategy, we will be taking a trade mission to Brazil in March next year to look at the market. We want businesses on both sides of the Humber to benefit from this". "If we can get countries across the world to know where the Humber is, we have succeeded". UK is one of Brazil's most important foreign investors, and many large UK corporations have well-established operations in the country. Brazil also has a wide and developed industrial base and government is intent on privatizing and deregulating. The country's middle class is also expanding and acquiring a higher spending power and taste for high-quality products. A product or service competitive in world markets is likely to be so in Brazil, concludes a UKTI statement. Nicholas Leek, of J Marr (Seafoods), agreed on Brazil's considerable potential. "The requirements for fish in Brazil are an untapped resource and the potential is massive" he said ahead of the meeting. "I think business will stem from the meeting." The UK commands a 2.05% share of the Brazil market and constitutes the South American country's 15th largest supplier. The trade relationship is notably growing: bilateral trade between Brazil and the UK increased 23.8% to 5.2 billion US dollars in 2007 compared with 2006.(FIS/MP).-