Dubai firm keen to bring Brazilian drink to Mideast

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DUBAI, May 20 (Arabian Business.com): Beverage company is keen to set up a joint venture with the producer of a popular Brazilian soft drink to bring it to the Middle East. Raheb Industrial Group said it wants to set up a production unit in Dubai to manufacture Guarana Antarctica, Brazil's second best-selling soft drink brand behind Coca-Cola. CEO Shahram Raheb said he was interested in making the UAE the fourth production base for the drink after Brazil, Portugal and Japan. He plans to meet representatives from Ambev, the producer of the drink, to make a formal proposal. "We have millions of dollars to invest in this project," he said, without elaborating. "I want to introduce Guarana to the market in the Middle East, as it does not yet know the drink," said Raheb in comments published by the Arab Brazil News Agency. He said importing the product was not an option because freight costs from Brazil, where the company is headquartered, would make Guarana more expensive and "would make sales impossible". "The idea would be to import the concentrate, the Guarana essence, and from there produce the beverage," he said. Raheb's comments came at the 27th edition of the Management Congress and International Supermarket Business Fair in Sao Paulo.