11/26/2008 11h00
Asia resumes contact and excites Gerdau and VCP
DCI 11/26/2008
The telephone of the Brazilian suppliers of the Asian market started ringing again last week, asking for price quotes, which can be a sign of the resumption of the demand. The statement was made by two major companies of their sectors, Votorantim Celulose e Papel (VCP) and Gerdau steel industry. "After more than two months in silence, China gives signs that it is beginning to move, they started calling for price quotes", affirmed Marcelo Castelli, VCP operations officer in an interview to DCI. A Similar declaration was made by the chief executive officer of Gerdau, André Gerdau Johannpeter, who said the traditional clients of the company have already started looking for the company, mainly those from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and "some" from Asia. "In general, the world stocks are already very low", affirmed the officer. Vale is another industry that is waiting for the resumption of the orders in order to resume its normal production. "We are on alert to the activity of the market", affirmed Vale's corporate advertising manager Marcelo Cunha to DCI. The resumption of the orders from foreign clients added to the favorable exchange rate for exportation may increase the Brazilian advantage in the international market in the middle of the crisis. Such advantage is already being recognized by multinationals, such as Microsoft and Siemens. In the case of the North-American computer giant , Brazil currently stands out among the subsidiaries, according to Microsoft's Marketing Officer Paula Bellizia. "Brazil is among the greatest branches in importance, it is one of the main branches", affirmed the officer. German Siemens registers Brazil's prominence in figures, since the country presented positive numbers in the end of the commercial year of the company, which closed the fourth fiscal quarter with a loss of 2.4 billion euros (RS$ 7.1 billion) in Europe, affected by non-recurring items. "The growth registered in Brazil was really exceptional", Said Pedro Heer, Corporate Communications Officer. In Brazil, the talk that is going around the business sector is that it is time for caution and that it is necessary to adjust the demand and that 2009 will be a more difficult year, but no one - it seems - believes Brazil will be struck by recession.
