Industry Sector in Northeast Brazil: Industry in Rio Grande do Norte

Interview with Amaro Sales de Araújo, President of FIERN (Rio Grande do Norte Federation of Industries)

I would like you to talk about the history and role of the Federation of Industries. I would also like to know which are the differences between this Federation and other national Federations.

Rio Grande do Norte Federation of Industries exists for 60 years. It was founded in 1953 by 5 businessmen acting in the bread, mechanics, coffee, weaving and textile manufacturing sectors. Today, this Federation has 28 unions related to several sectors, and its main mission is to defend the rights of the businessmen in Rio Grande do Norte. Inside its system, the Federation has the SESI that deals with the health and safety of the worker (sport, culture and leisure), the SENAI that deals with professional training (in 2013 it has to open 55,000 new industrial courses) and the IEL that deals with the businessmen company training.

We have a strategic map drawn out until 2020, which will help us to be aligned with the national industry. This Federation differs from the others by its will to make everything according to plan. We have an associative program that has, within its unions, the quality in defending its interests. This will be also the first Federation to act as a supplying company.

How do businessmen view Rio Grande do Norte?

Rio Grande do Norte is situated in the northeast, it has a population of approximately 3.2 million people, we have 7,000 industries operating in the state and 126,000 people working on them. Within these industries, we have some chains that are more important: the oil and gas industry (Petrobras has an installation here), the offshore fishing industry (with the biggest tuna fish fleet in the country and our massive shrimp industry), the textile industry, the ceramics industry, the food industry, the salt industry (the biggest salt production industry in Brazil), the dairy products industry, the granite and marble industry. We have high potential in the mining industry and renewable energy (with existing wind farms and the huge possibility of solar energy). Within all the areas I’ve referred we can be very competitive and we don’t depend entirely on one sector of activity (like it happens in many other places in Brazil). Investors need to know that we participate in many sectors for the country’s economy.

In terms of economy, industry represents which percentage?

Industry represents around 21% of the state’s GDP. In terms of employability, industry is the 2nd biggest employer in the state.

Is there any specific sector that is being prioritized at the moment?

The industry that is effectively growing in Rio Grande do Norte is the renewable energy industry. We have investments of 40 billion Brazilian reals with projects ready to participate in energy auctions. We have more than 200 wind farms to enter these auctions and 60 wind farms with construction already approved. We also have very representative textile, agribusiness, ceramics and cement industries.

Could you mention 2 or 3 projects that would be interesting for international investors?

We need, for example, to invest in tuna fish processing chains. We only fish it and we send it to Japan or to Europe. There’s also a need to invest in the processing/manufacturing of our mining products, such as gold, iron and others.

As FIERN’s President, which are the results you would like to achieve in the short run?

Public management is vogue nowadays and much of the growth that is not happening at this time in Brazil is due to the huge amount of public spending. The government does not invest a lot in infrastructures. There are big projects but the government has not been speeding up their concretization.

What I would really like to see at this moment is that we could be able to have clearer rules, so that industries can come here, especially those belonging to investors that want to settle here in Brazil.

Juridical security is a very important factor to have under consideration, because businessmen want to feel safe – they want to be sure that once they bring their money into our country, they will have a return on their investment.

What are the challenges that you have to tackle on a day-to-day basis?

As President of the Federation, I want to bring it closer to businessmen. Nowadays, small and medium businessmen represent 97% of the industrial sector. Many times these small and medium businessmen lack support and the Federation has as a challenge to reach all of them. The state has 167 municipalities and we want to reach all of them with the industry system. The small industries have the security of an economical guarantee of survival on the municipalities. We want to make sure that these companies have access to professional training, health and safety of the worker, business qualifications, etc. We want to build a business plan with these businessmen, so that their business can survive. My greatest challenge as the Federation’s president is to bring the Federation closer to businessmen and to defend their interests.

Do you have anything else you would like to add?

The government of Rio Grande do Norte has been making efforts to improve the infrastructure network of the state. There is a new airport being built and it is going to serve Europe, Africa and the USA. Rio Grande do Norte can supply services in terms of redistribution of flights coming in from other countries into Brazil. From the moment you have such an airport you can attract companies in the distribution area.

We also have a program dedicated to attract tourism companies. Rio Grande do Norte has natural beauties, water sports – one of our beaches has the best wind for windsurf, kite surf, etc. – our beaches are wonderful. The Pipa beach, which is known all over the world, has been attracting tourists and has revealed to have great potential. We can also offer 32,000 hotel beds.

Our food is also very attractive thanks to, for example, shrimps, lobsters or tuna fish. These are all regional dishes, but they are very attractive in terms of tourism. And, of course, our people are very pleasant, friendly and welcoming.

An investment of almost 100 million Brazilian reals is being made in the Natal harbor for the construction of a structure for the arrival of passenger ships. We also have an option of a new harbor that can be built through investment and we already have a selected area for its construction.

I would also like to mention the World Cup: due to the event, Rio Grande do Norte will be receiving lots of people around the world.

We are also preparing a PDI – Plano de Desenvolvimento Industrial (Industrial Development Plan) where FIERN, the state government and all other Federations are trying hard to make the industrial sector reach its full potential. This will be planned for 20 years ahead and it will be a good forecast to show investors what will happen in the future.

Within the important sectors of the state we have: oil & gas (Rio Grande do Norte is the 3rd Brazilian inland producer of oil), pre-salt (there are ongoing studies to make it at lower depths)… The state would also like to invite investors to know our oil & gas sectors and find out about new business opportunities the state has to offer.

Which reasons would you give to attract foreign investment to your state? I would also like you to refer to incentives and governmental support.

FIERN invites all businessmen to come here and get to know Rio Grande do Norte. We will receive them here along with all other Federations to present our state. Then we will show them the products that will certainly be supported by the institutions that represent businessmen. The investors will come here due to the infrastructures, due to our people, due to the professional training that will be offered to their companies.

You are also a businessman. Could you present your company?

I’m a small industrial businessman active on the market for 40 years. My area is the bakeries industry: we work with frozen snacks and bread. We have 55 employees and our biggest clients are supermarkets, hotels, snack bars, restaurants, etc.