Brazil Mining 2011 - GBR

BRAZIL MINING
costs for manufacturers and a lack of
competitiveness logically dictate for companies
with international capacity to produce
in lower cost markets. Numerous
international players have nevertheless
reinforced their commitment to Brazilian
manufacturing by retaining their productive
bases in the country. “Tecnometal
has ensured control over its entire manufacturing
output by keeping it in Brazil
and not outsourcing any of it. This strategy
ensures quality. We consider this to
be a key strength for our company, even
though we need to support the production
sites when there is no commissioned
work,” said Tecnomateal President
Marcelus Geraldo de Araujo.
Unsurprisingly, many other Brazilian
firms have opted to diversify their manufacturing
base, such as Enfil. “Enfil has a
manufacturing plant in Brazil, but we also
produce much of our equipment in China
as it is more competitive. It makes sense
for us to do this in order to retain market
share relative to the competition,” said
Director Franco Castellani Tabani.
SEW Eurodrive—the national market
leader in supplying gear-engineering
technologies—is another company for
whom a domestic manufacturing base is
of paramount importance. SEW Eurodrive
has a huge manufacturing plant in
the Guarulhos area of Sao Paulo. A further
$235 million has been invested in
consolidating the company's production
capacity in Brazil with a view to meeting
expected rapid increases in demand
from the mining sector over the course of
the next five years. “SEW has a service
center in every Brazilian state, this clearly
distinguishes us from the competition
in a market where 100% reliability and
productivity is the key priority,” said
SEW Eurodrive Commercial Director
Alexandre Dos Reis.
For numerous firms, a strong presence
in Brazil increases access to the
wider Latin American market. “Locating
our manufacturing base in Brazil, we are
much better able to adapt to the changing
requirements of our customers, as
well as further increase our market-share
in regional markets such as Colombia
and Chile,” said Daniel Rosetti, director
of family-owned transportation manufacturer
Rosetti. “Rosetti is currently in the
process of expanding our Brazilian manufacturing
base in Sao Paulo by 40% in
order to capitalize upon the spectacular
growth that the Brazilian mining sector
is currently experiencing.”
Given the size of the Brazilian market
and the dominance of the country’s economy
throughout Latin America, international
firms are also increasingly using
Brazil as a base to enter the Latin
American market and then subsequently
expand operations throughout the continent.
“Brazil is a huge emerging market
with diversified economic interests
throughout key industry sectors such as
agriculture, oil and gas and minerals,”
said a spokesperson from international
laboratory services firm Intertek. “Intertek
is a huge international company,
head-quartered in London with great
strength throughout Asia and Australasia.
Intertek Minerals entered the Latin
American market in 2008, with a clear
strategy for strong rapid growth. We now
occupy approximately 15% of the mineral
market in Brazil. The idea now is to
use this growth to develop other markets
in important South American countries
such as Chile and Peru.”
ESCO Corp., which has been active in
Brazil since the 1960s, acquired domes-
88 E&MJ • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 www.e-mj.com