Proactive approach pays dividends in Latin America

Global – Companies engaged in container exports out of Latin America should invest in having direct manager-level control over shipments, it was argued at the latest meeting of BIR’€™s Latin America Committee (LAC) which took place during the world recycling association’s recent convention in Berlin.

According to LAC founder Enrique Acosta of BMB Metals in the USA, who has been conducting business in Latin America for some 23 years, a ‘more proactive’ approach with, for example, shipping lines helps to ‘keep the loop moving’ while also ensuring the best freight deals and the proper processing of documentation. He also urged companies to do their homework on potential business partners. ‘I don’t buy from unknown sources,’ he commented.

The meeting in Berlin was further acknowledgement that Latin America already represents ‘a very important part of the global recycling industry’, Acosta ventured.

LAC chair Alejandro Jaramillo of Glorem SC in Mexico agreed that the region is alive with ‘significant growth opportunities’ for the sourcing and selling of recyclables and that the gathering in Berlin provided an opportunity to foster relationships between people already active in the Latin American market and those interested in developing trading links with the region.

The meeting also tackled some of the challenges to trading with Latin America. The region’s largest economy Brazil has a relatively low number of exporters because making initial contacts can be ‘really hard’, pointed out Sébastien Hidalgo of Spain-based Reinox Metal. Many Brazilian companies do not have their own websites with the result that contact details and information on them are difficult to secure, he added.