High dollar leads importers to rethink the supply

The accelerated appreciation of the dollar, which in 12 months has gone up 85%, led the importers to rethink the shape of supply. Among the initiatives is the reduction in the volume of import processes request, aggregate sales of products to services, in addition to the replacement of foreign suppliers for locations.
But, as the domestic industry is not prepared to meet all the demand and can't be competitive in pricing for high cost Brazil, another way to keep the profitability of operations is in buying out parts and Assembly is made in the country. "With the industrial Assembly of own got a 25% gain, even with the dollar high," says the DCI the Technical Director of Basall (importer of aesthetic and medical appliances for domestic use), Mauricio Farah.
The Executive said that the high-dollar caught them by surprise, since the company uses import financing (Fininp) for the purchase of some items. "When we hired the Fininp the dollar was at r $ 2.2. Now let's start paying this funding with the dollar quoted at r $ 4, "he explained. Farah said that this type of mode of obtaining credit helps importers, but in times of instability of foreign currency it brings certain losses. "Who only care for Fininp will have a hard time this year and 2016 due to high currency very quickly," he said.
The company, which operates with import four years ago, negotiated purchases with the American currency to $ 1.9 and, from there to here needed more than administer prices in periods such as this, to negotiate aggressively with retailers. "We're in major magazines and they have pushed us to extend the payment deadline. The waterworks is quite clear and in some cases they put us under pressure leaving missing products in stores ", says the Executive, mentioning the negotiation with the Pontofrio, Grupo Pão de Açúcar. "They know that the product sells, then press a lot, in particular payment periods," said Farah. And added: "they're paying us for six months".
Low consumption
Adapt to new consumer habits is also strategy for operation linked to foreign currency. "Our stores are in malls and watch the runners, but the stores always empty. When you enter a customer more than check price, he cares not to make long-term debts like the splitted ", explained the Director of franchise network Attach, Airton Joaquin.
For playing with electronics, Attach also feel difficulty in finding local suppliers, so one of the alternatives in this period of instability is the reduction of the volume purchased, thus avoiding, stocks high in early 2016. "We will reduce the volume of import. This will bring a little more security, even more that we are not so optimistic about the end of the year ".
Joaquim said that the impact of the dollar will be higher in the next three months, since your suppliers are dumping products purchased with the lower exchange rate. "They have a lot of stocks, now with the replacement will we feel the weight of the dollar."
Another strategy that Attach will implement soon will be the expansion of maintenance services. "We've been doing some repairs of computers in stores. The idea is still this year to extend that to smartphones, "he said. To Attach the structure already buying kits (imported) for the replacement of screens, with the concept make ' yourself '. "In the United States that is very common. Here in Brazil, and not with this kit the consumer can afford to fix yourself or pay us an additional value for storing the appliance, "explained Joaquin.
Food
The food segment is not immune to the volatility of the foreign currency. According to the Director-General of La Violetera, Felix Boeing Junior, Exchange instability causes the transfer of costs to be gradual. "We increased the prices between 5% and 10% over the months because we couldn't be as fast as the volatility of the currency," he explained.
Another initiative of the importer was find new countries for the purchase of certain categories. "Last year we bought olive of Spain, this year the purchase comes from Argentina, country where the crop was very good and the price fell," he said, noting that, of the neighboring country, also came from raisin and pistachio.
Second Boeing Junior there are certain items, such as damask, for example, that there is no substitutability. "The Damascus care of Turkey, there is no other site with the same quality," he emphasized. Even with all the initiatives, this year will be to reduce sales volume. "We import less, and due to the economic crisis causes instability in the country our profitability will also be lower, around 2 percent," he said. The anticipated revenue is of r $ 300 million and will come to the increase in the price of conditioning imported rather than larger sales. "Until June 15% by volume and grew 17% in value, but after that we started to feel more effectively," said Boeing Junior, which ended: "We hope one more year with the high dollar and economy slowed down in Brazil."