A specialist manufacturer of security footwear from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais has achieved high levels of success in the Middle East market just months after reaching out to it for the first time.

 

The company, Marluvas, claims that its overseas success has stemmed from making security footwear that meets international standards, but at a competitive price level, certainly when compared to European and North American rivals.

 

Its first venture into the Middle East came in January when it decided to exhibit at a specialist security products event in Dubai. "The event proved to be ten times more successful than we hoped," explains the company's director of overseas trade, Bruno Daniel.

As a result, Marvulas decided to set up its own office in Sharjah to be able to offer a better response to potential clients in the region.

This move worked: an order for 7 million pairs came through from the Lybian government, which Marvulas shipped in May. Now Mr Daniel says the company is about to complete a number of other deals in the region.

To help meet them, the Brazilian manufacturer is now preparing to open its own warehouse in the United Arab Emirates, where it intends to keep a permanent inventory of 5 million pairs of the protective footwear.

Marvulas was founded in 1972 in the small town of Dores de Campos. Now 20% of the population is employed directly or indirectly by the footwear firm. It has the capacity at present to produce 17,000 pairs of its protective footwear a day.

With export sales rising, the company says it will increase its output to 21,000 pairs a day by 2010.