Rabat – A recent webinar gathering experts from the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) explored opportunities in Morocco’s health care sector.
The Brazilian Medical and Dental Device Manufacturers Association (ABIMO) hosted the event on July 23 to discuss investment opportunities in North African health care systems, particularly those of Morocco and Algeria.
A study from ABIMO and Apex Brasil presented Morocco as a “business-friendly market with a growing middle class, low international certification requirement, and an appealing profile for Brazilian suppliers.”
The event’s health care professionals, however, acknowledged the presence of “fierce” foreign competition in Morocco’s market.
“The challenge when it comes to Morocco is foreign competition,” ABIMO market access coordinator Rafael Cavalcante said during the event.
He explained that European products are “taken as benchmarks” and might outperform Brazilian items that are less costly.
ABCC senior economist Sotirios Denis Ghinis presented statistics showing Morocco as among the five leading Arab importers of health care products from Brazil alongside Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Algeria.
Ghinis said that Arab countries imported $16 billion “between them in medical and hospital equipment” in 2019, representing an increase of 21% from 2018.
“Arab countries as a whole were the 14th biggest export destination for the Brazilian industry,” the economist said.
The world’s leading suppliers of health care goods include China, US, and Germany.
“Brazil ranked 44th, having supplied mostly plastic items, mechanical devices, surgical instruments, diagnostic reagents, and needless and catheters,” the ABCC data shows.
Karen Mizuta, an international business consultant, provided a few tips that health care companies in Brazil should consider while investing in Morocco’s market.
Presenting Morocco and Algeria as Arabic-speaking countries where French is a key language, the business expert argued that “it’s important to have a communication channel.”
Communication channels can be “achieved by relying on interpreters, so that negotiations will not suffer,” she said.
