Brazil's pharmaceutical, cosmetic expos highlight significance of Chinese players

The 2023 FCE Pharma and FCE Cosmetique expositions were held recently in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A China Pavilion was set up particularly this year with some 50 Chinese exhibitors invited to the largest city in South America, in a bid to further consolidate commercial partnership between Chinese enterprises and Latin American market.

Nadja Bento, portfolio director of the life science department of NurnbergMesse Brazil, the organizer of the expositions, told Xinhua that Brazil has been in a partnership with China for a long time.

"China is a very important commercial partner of ours, as we import more than 96 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) from China," she said. "Our expectation is that this partnership can be more and more solid and close. This China Pavilion we have here this year, which is loved by the Chinese companies, can grow larger, and good businesses would happen here at the event."

Kimmy Tang, director of process equipment from China's Line-Link Purification Technology (Shanghai), said that the company has developed well in Hispanic countries in Latin America, such as Paraguay, Argentina, Peru and Colombia, and now hopes to expand its market to Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries. 

He believes that compared with similar local products, the quality and cost performance of Chinese products are higher. He hopes to reach out to more potential customers at this exhibition and showcase Chinese products and services.

According to Ren Tingshuai, project manager of Liaoning Pharmaceutical Foreign Trade Corp., a subsidiary of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Holding, the company has entered the Brazilian and South American markets through chemical materials for nearly 10 years, and the turnovers even doubled during the pandemic. On the basis of the price and product standard advantages, the company hopes to cooperate with local distributors to develop the API sector.

Liang Sisi, the head of medicines and materials of Shenzhen Readline Biotech, said she hopes to take the opportunity of this exhibition to develop business opportunities with enterprises in Brazil and Latin America, and introduce its small molecule ribose, small molecule peptide and small molecule nucleotide products into the local market to serve more companies and industries. "The Brazilian market is developing very actively, and I believe that our raw materials in the field of skin care products can combine with local customer needs to improve product efficacy."

Rio de Janeiro-based Nortec Quimica is one of the leading producers of API producers in Latin America, and has developed deep and long friendship with China. The vice president of the API producer, Marcus Soalheiro Cruz, revealed that the company started its cooperation with Chinese partners in 1994, by importing API and semi-finished pharmaceutical products to Brazil, producing patent medicines, and then selling from Brazil to the Latin American market.

"Brazil has plenty of space to do things and the Brazilian market is eager to have more products here, while Chinese technology is growing and we are able to enjoy part of its development and knowledge in the company," said Cruz. "We are discussing formal cooperation with two Chinese companies to establish joint ventures."

Nelson Iatallese Filho is the sales director of Gerresheimer Plasticos Sao Paulo. He said that the company in Brazil is often able to exchange knowledge and information with their colleagues in China.

"The Chinese team has some expertise that is very important to us, such as plastic packaging products that are unique to the Asian and Chinese markets. Interacting with them gives us the opportunity to learn about products and technologies that are not available in the Brazilian and Latin American markets, thus continuing to strengthen and broaden our expertise and knowledge. The Chinese team has been very generous in sharing their knowledge and helping us, and I hope that in the future we will be able to reciprocate with the same expertise and export unique Brazilian products to the Chinese market."

FCE Pharma and FEC Cosmetique are among the major exhibitions in the two sectors in Latin America, with a range of solutions from machinery and raw materials to technology and services, as well as professional lectures and panels. The exhibition gathered the main brands in the fields of industrial automation, contamination and quality control, packaging, machinery and equipment, raw materials, outsourcing and services, transport and logistics. The show attracted more than 30,000 visitors this year.