From Sept 14-18, Sindmóveis Bento Gonçalves will hold a special Buyer’s Project, featuring business meetings between 19 local furniture companies and three major retailers from Latin America. In addition to the negotiations, the importers will have the opportunity to visit some companies based in the area.

Guests importers include the two leading Mexican e-commerce retailers  and a major multi-brand kitchen retailer based in Guatemala. According to the president of Sindmóveis, Henrique Tecchio, this is an opportunity to explore the great potential of foreign markets and increase sales in a domestic business environment. "Brazil can expand its market share of global furniture exports. We rank 28th among the largest exporters of furniture for kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, dining and living rooms, excluding seats and mattresses, accounting for less than 1% of a market worth approximately $ 75 billion," points out the president.

In the first half of 2015, the amount exported by the furniture industry based in Bento Gonçalves was 22.6% lower in comparison to the same period last year. This performance reflects the loss of competitiveness of the national industry due to tax complexity, poor infrastructure and excessive bureaucracy, added to economic uncertainty, inflation and high costs. Initiatives organized by the Sindmóveis International Committee like the Buyer’s Project and market studies, aim to recover losses faced by the local companies in foreign markets and increase the internationalization of the furniture industry.