Iscar wants to lead the Brazilian market
Gazeta Mercantil - 02/18/2008
The Israeli multinational Iscar, manufacturer of cutting tools of the Berkishire Hathaway Inc. group, of the North American investor Warren Buffett, prepares an aggressive growth for Brazil. The international president of the company Jacob Harpaz said that there are no investment limits in the Brazilian operation, during an exclusive interview to this newspaper. The local operation ended 2007 with a share of 20% of the market - which sold US$ 300 million, according to data from the company -, which represents nearly US$ 60 million in sales, an increase of 20% compared to 2006, and the same growth percentage is expected for this year. Harpaz's goal is to take his company to the leadership of the Brazilian market until 2010, currently on the hands of the Swedish Sandvic, which holds 23% of the market share. Nearly 70% of the sales of the company in Brazil go to car industries. The other 30% of sales are divided between the ethanol producing sugar plants, the aerospace sector (mainly Embraer and its suppliers), manufacturers of molds and matrices, and mechanics in general. Iscar has a plant in Vinhedo, in the interior of São Paulo, which produces only 20% of the products sold in Brazil. The rest is imported, mainly from the parent company, in Israel. Its major production in Brazil is tools used by car industries. But that may change. According to the president of the subsidiary company Eduardo Ribeiro the investment to install a new specific tools' line for machining parts for aluminum industries has already been approved, which will place the company into a new segment. Besides the new area of operation, Iscar also bets on getting closer to the customers to leverage the sales. Brazil is the fifth largest international market for Iscar, behind the United States, Germany, Italy, and France. But, besides the car industry, Harpaz wants to stimulate the businesses of the company in several sectors and for this reason he brought with him about 590 new products to present to the market. According to him, the capacity of the Brazilian market to absorb new technologies is impressive.