Anuário da Indústria de Implementos Rodoviários 2020

60 T he 22nd Fenatran – International Cargo Transport Exhibition - the largest trade fair of its kind in Latin America, held in October 2019, in São Paulo, was a great synthesis of the transformation and progress that the road implements, vehicles, suppliers and related segments have experienced over the years. Around 62,000 visitors from 55 countries who came across 450 brands in the thousands of square meters of the São Paulo Expo complex, an audience 24% bigger than in the previous edition, saw products, services and technologies little imagined in a not-so-distant past. A survey by the organizers indicates that, over the five days of the fair, business opportunities of around R$ 8.5 billion were recorded, no less than twice as much as in 2017. Part of this renewed enthusiasm displayed by the sector at the fair can be seen in a review by ANFIR disclosed shortly after the end of the event. Norberto Fabris, president of the organization, emphasized that the 2019 edition was the best for the sector in recent years. According to him, around 15,000 implements were negotiated during the show. “From the first hours of the first day of the fair, we realized that this event would be different”, he said. Most sales, however, indicate that road transport will continue, at least in the short term, as the main driver in the sector, as in recent years, since the vast majority of deals involved heavy segment products. Sales of light implements totaled 620 bodies-on-frames. Implement manufacturers’ sales expectations were also strengthened by the business roundtables promoted with 25 importers from twelve countries in Latin America for two days. “The wide variety of road implements in one space contributed to strengthen relationships and close deals throughout the fair,” said Fabris. But the dramatic growth in the volume of business generated during Fenatran did not fully surprise Fabris. The sector is still recovering compared to past record numbers and has been showing a positive and steady performance curve since the beginning of the year. The good deals, thus, indicated the consolidation of this trend, materialized in the figures at the end of 2019, with new double-digit growth. “Fenatran was expected to be part of this recovery and the deals closed at the São Paulo Expo prove this”, stresses Fabris. “This was the best Fenatran in the company’s history”, echoed José Carlos Sprícigo, CEO at Librelato. The company left the fair with about R$ 200 million in deals, twice what it had recorded in the 2017 edition, and more than 2,000 implements sold. “Fenatran exceeded our expectations due to the return of confidence in the market, which shows a sustainable resumption in business,” said Sprícigo, CEO at Libreto, which, in addition to several launches, celebrated its 50th anniversary at the fair. In order to turn the opportunities presented at the São Paulo exhibition into more business, Alcides Braga, President of Truckvan, decided to enhance the operation in the heavy goods market, with the recent streamlining of capacities and synergies in a single plant in the city of Guarulhos (SP), which were spread across three sites. The company expects to grow around 30% in 2020. So much so that, in this Fenatran, the manufacturer redoubled its efforts in the direct sale of implements, compared to other editions, when it tried to strengthen, above all, the brand’s image. “We have had a very positive uptake and some results already, both from customers and those interested in distributing our products in Brazil and abroad”, said Luiz Carlos Cunha Junior, the company’s commercial director. Luiz Carlos Moraes, president at Anfavea, had very similar opinions and behaviors from the automakers he represents and who attended the show. “Some of our members reported to us that they had to bring more salespeople to the stands and others met the target for the year. This is fantastic, as there are no commercial vehicles sales if the expectation with the economy is not good”, he said. This belief from the president of Anfavea certainly resulted from a conversation with Wilson Lirmann, president at Volvo Latin America, who calculated that the company recorded R$ 1 billion sales at the show, up by two times over the 2017 fair, including truck sales, maintenance plans and financial services, such as insurance and organized buyers’ pool. “Fenatran has always been a business event for Volvo. This year we feel an even greater optimism from customers, who are seeing positive signs in the transport market and have decided to invest to renew their fleets”, added Alcides Cavalcanti, commercial director at Volvo. Fenatran 2019, the largest road freight transport show, recorded almost twice the deals of the previous edition and foreshadowed market recovery FENATRAN Very positive signs at the trade fair