Meat packing company, Nicolini, headquartered in Nova Araçá, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, has just signed a sales contract with a large importer in Bahrain, a country in the Gulf, according to Brazil-Arab news agency, ANBA. The company, which has 75 per cent of foreign sales turned to Iraq and also exports to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait, shipped 100 tonnes of chicken to the new client.

The contact between both companies took place in May, during roundtables promoted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, at the organisation's office in São Paulo. Bahraini importer, Maza, already buys sugar, biscuits and poultry from Brazil.

Fabrício Bocchese, export supervisor at Nicolini, said: "We promoted our first shipment and are now awaiting further negotiations, but we are surely establishing long-term relations, as the business is good for both sides.

"We managed to work to make our production adapted to their needs and they have managed to adapt themselves to our prices. Our target is now to export at last 1,000 tonnes of chicken to Maza up to late 2010."

Apart from Arab countries, the company also exports to Central America, Hong Kong and Japan.

Nicolini was established 31 years ago, produces 4,000 tonnes of chicken a month and employs 1,200 people. The group's industrial plants are in the cities of Garibaldi and Nova Araçá, both in the mountain range of Rio Grande do Sul.

The company also has its own egg production and seven years ago started producing sausages. On the domestic market, the factory is present in almost all Brazilian states and has four branches in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Manaus and Amapá.