£400k Contract For Belfast Company

A Northern Irish supplier of musical instruments has secured a £400,000 contract in Brazil this week, following Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster's trade mission to the country.

Belfast-based IBC Trading Ltd. were in discussions with a company called Giannini, which makes traditional musical instruments.

IBC has secured a £400,000 contract to supply classical, acoustic and electric guitars to Giannini in Brazil.

Arlene Foster said: "It is immensely encouraging news for locally-owned companies who are working to build relationships and break into overseas markets. Often it is a slow and difficult process, however contracts such as this show that companies can achieve growth by diversifying markets and forming strategic partnerships."

Speaking from Brazil, Ian Wilson, Managing Director of IBC Trading Ltd said: "Today’s announcement owes much to our participation on last year’s trade mission to China when we met with representatives from Giannini. We were able to use the trade mission successfully in terms of developing partnerships and helping us to identify suitable suppliers."

IBC Trading Ltd was one of 14 Northern Ireland companies participating on the Invest NI Trade Mission to Brazil.

Minister Foster was also promoting Northern Ireland tourism.

She said: "There was a strong interest in Northern Ireland from local media and during my time in Sao Paulo I had the opportunity to meet with ten journalists. They were extremely keen to hear what Northern Ireland can offer the Brazilian tourist in terms of heritage, culture, scenery, shopping and sporting activities such as surfing and golf.

"In particular, there was a lot of discussion around Game of Thrones and Titanic Belfast. In its first year of operation, over 1,200 Brazilians visited Titanic Belfast and we look forward to growing these numbers significantly in years to come."

(IT/MH)