Agência Brasil

Rio - Starting today (24), 35 small Brazilian enterprises will be participating in the Biofach 2005, Europe's biggest organic products fair, which will run through Saturday (26) in Nuremberg, Germany. This year Brazil is the country the Biofach chose to honor.

Two of the Brazilian firms, Ecobrás and Organic Life, were developed in the National Agricultural Society's (SNA) agribusiness incubator. Ecobrás specializes in the production of tofu (bean curd) and other soybean derivates such as mayonnaise and pâtés, while Organic Life commercializes organic coffee, rice, and honey, among other products.

The two firms already have interviews scheduled for the business rounds that will be held during the fair, with an eye to exporting their products. According to Ecobras director Paulo Savino, "there is more interest in this type of product abroad than in Brazil, due to the greater purchasing power of the population." The price of natural foods, he added, is still high by Brazilian standards.

With its domestic market, encompassing the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Bahia, and Minas Gerais, in expansion, Ecobrás also wants to avail itself of technical support from the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Ministry's export program (Progex), to adapt its products to the foreign market - introducing packaging, for example, that will extend the shelf life of foods, which are generally fresh and refrigerated. Ecobrás has already detected interest on the part of importers from Great Britain and even Japan, which, despite being the world's biggest tofu producer, doesn't manufacture soybean derivatives like the ones made by Ecobrás.

Organic Life, on the other hand, is an emerging company whose only goal is exportation. Participation in the Biofach 2005, according to company director Amy Bessler, will enable the firm to conclude deals chiefly with Italy, France, Germany, and Spain.

Translation: David Silberstein