British brand is biggest selling point abroad says Latin America trade specialist

“THE UK brand is very strong abroad,” said Uruguayan Gabriela Castro-Fontoura, director of Sunny Sky Solutions, a company which taps into local resources to allow businesses to trade in Latin America.

She was speaking at an export event hosted by Leeds commercial law firm Shulmans along with experienced Yorkshire exporters PBS International and Gripple.

Ms Castro-Fontoura, who was formerly Skipton-based, continued: “The only reason why places like Manchester are better known is because of football!”

Despite this, most of Sunny Sky Solutions’ clients are from Yorkshire due to Ms Castro-Fontoura’s links with the region, having lived in the area for more than a decade.

Now that she has moved back to Uruguay, she helps businesses from the other side of the Atlantic.

She said: “Latin America is culturally different. Just like Europe, not every country is the same or has the same values.

“While the UK was in recession, Latin America was thriving, now everyone is looking to do business with us. Now they have to show they are serious,” she said.

“We are not a continent for quick wins,” she said. “Even exporting to France and Italy takes time and even more so exporting to Latin America.”

Medium-sized businesses with exporting experience, she said, were ideal to trade there. “But businesses can’t compete on volume there, UK businesses can really only compete which niche products. Latin America has a view of Britain and UK products that they are honest, reliable, but also expensive.

Ms Castro-Fontoura continued: “”The pound has been historically strong, so people assume dealing with the UK is expensive, but what is really valued is the quality input from the UK in terms of design for example.”

Though there will always be obstacles to trading abroad, Gordon Macrae, special project manager at Sheffield-based manufacturer Gripple, which supplies fencing, vineyards and industrial suspensions, said the opportunities made it worthwhile.

The company exports 85% of its products already and Mr Macrae said: “Our chairman says the UK makes up only 4% of global GDP so why aren’t we looking further at that 96%?”

The company makes £2.5m annual turnover in Mexico for example, after evaluating its market potential.

Country evaluations were key to Gripple’s growth abroad, looking at broad factors such as ease of doing business, import tariffs and construction measures, as well criteria that is more specific to the business, such as agriculture and seismic activities.

Sharon Ratcliffe, commercial manager at Scarborough-based PBS International emphasised the need for on-the-ground knowledge when trading abroad.

PBS certainly fits into the niche criteria for exporting to Latin America, manufacturing pollination bags for plants, making them an international business from the get-go.

“One thing we’ve found is that you have to be persistent. Even that is an understatement, and six years down the line we’re working at R&D stage within the businesses, not even on the commercial side.

Also save time and money and invest in someone who knows and understands the culture.

The presence of PBS also meant domestic competitors sprung up, an issue which Rob Lucas of commercial law firm Shulmans said was inevitable.

He said; “IP is always a concern when moving into new markets. Any good idea will be copied, it’s just the way of the world.

“IP is territorial, but some IP is being recognised in Latin America. At the minute you still have to protect IP in each country individually.”

 

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