RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Paraguay-Israel trade balance currently stands at 10-1, according to CACOPI chairman Alejandro Rubin Cymerman, speaking at the Chamber’s 5th anniversary, on November 23.
“If Paraguay exports 10, it imports 1, but we must understand that they are complementary economies and not competitive, and there is still much to be done. We must exploit the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that Israel has with MERCOSUR, it is key,” he said.
ISRAEL-MERCOSUR FTA
Products imported from Israel into MERCOSUR are duty free, making them very competitive for a market which despite not being very large in quantity, has a high purchasing power and demands high-quality products.
Trade with Israel reached US$200 million in exports at some point, but there is much more potential due to its high consumption, in addition to the kosher food industry, a key market niche that moves millions of dollars in food, as it must be prepared according to Jewish dietary standards acceptable for consumption.
“Israel can be a channel for this large kosher industry, which would then be a gateway to other markets such as the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Europe, with people who consume only kosher food, not only Jewish, because its quality is guaranteed,” Rubin added.
To this end, efforts are underway to expand the list of products to be included in the FTA, as they are very competitive in Israel, a market of only 9 million inhabitants but with great purchasing power, enabling it to target a range of high-quality processed and industrialized products.
He also stressed that Israel is among the markets that pays the most for Paraguayan meat, its main import from the country, as well as products that are also shipped to that destination, such as soybeans, yerba mate, and coal.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Rubin Cymerman said that, as a Chamber of Commerce, it is a permanent facilitator of information, of concrete business opportunities, of Israelis who demand products or who send them locally, whose information is used by its members.
The country is facing a pandemic that affected some aspects that need to be reverted, which together with Israel, a leader in technology, can be corrected and efficiency improved, such as production, he said.
In this respect, the head of the Chamber also highlighted the generation of opportunities with Israel in the areas of health, biological solutions, logistics, security, bio-safety, agriculture and technologies for environmental protection, pharmaceuticals, medicine and biotechnology.
Throughout these 5 years, the Chamber has organized a number of activities to bring the two countries closer together, such as talks and lecture series related to the business environment, strategy, financial well-being, innovation, technology, and overall trends.
In addition to being part of a unique program that provided scholarships for training in The Israeli Disruptive Innovation Route (La Ruta de la Innovación Disruptiva Israelí), through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC), with expert guidance that enabled drip irrigation for a desert country.