Brazilian businessman hails China's development

People walk near Guomao Bridge in Beijing, capital of China, June 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian businessman Andre Neves Machado celebrated a special birthday this year. He turned 30 in March, which also marked a great milestone in his career, namely the ownership of three trading companies and two restaurants.

Machado opened his first company in Brazil in 2016 and came to China the following year to attend exhibitions and visit suppliers and clients. "In 2017, I opened my first trading company in China, which was a joint venture," he said.

The young businessman attributes his decision to launch a business in China to the friendly relationship between China and Brazil and the promising prospects of China's development. "China is the biggest trade partner of Brazil. That's the reason why I decided to come to China," he said.

In 2018, Machado became a partner of Latina, a chain of Brazilian steakhouses, or churrascarias, after he spotted an emerging trend of high-quality food consumption in the country.

"Personally, I will say that I could notice that the Chinese are consuming more premium meat than before," he said. "We used to have 50 percent Chinese and 50 percent foreign customers. But currently, 80 percent to 85 percent of our customers are Chinese."

Over the years, the speed of China's development always dazzles Machado. "It's really amazing that when you stay out of China for a while and you come back and everything is different -- you have a new building, have a new world. It's really impressive how everything works so efficiently."

"Honestly, I really love to live here," he said. "China is beyond my expectations."

Although the pandemic has plagued the global economy, Machado has never lost faith in his business in China, saying that local authorities have been very helpful. "They gave us some free rentals and some tax benefits. We also got free vaccines. We are very grateful for that," he said.

With the popularity of digital marketing in China, Machado also jumped on the bandwagon, promoting his restaurant on platforms such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, which he says are very effective.

Last summer, Machado and his partners opened the second unit of Latina in Beijing. "Definitely, I feel very confident that the economy will improve a lot. I can see the numbers are increasing and the market is getting hot," he said.

"I think that the relationship between Brazil and China will also become greater and greater. I believe that our partnership is stronger than ever and feel very confident that the partnership will grow at all levels," he added.