The Greater Bay Area: Carving out a Niche

Mundial knives are hand-forged from high-carbon stainless steel, fitted with Sanitized Antimicrobial Protection. Their polypropylene handles are designed to guard against the growth of bacteria, yeast, mould and fungi, and are available with colour-coded handles to help prevent cross-contamination. A unique tracking number is stamped on the blade of its knives to ensure lifetime quality assurance can be provided, and help facilitate scheduled sterilisations, resharpening and reordering.

Mundial’s Managing Director for Asia, Jefrey Santos, says, however, that what truly distinguishes its knives is the ease with which they can be used. He points to the large variety of handle options the company offers – from traditional tang-riveted to various modern moulded styles such as the soft textured “Mundi Grip” handle and other handles with “Sure Grip” features and ergonomic contours - and says: “Comfort is the Mundial edge.”

Push into Asia

Headquartered in Sao Paulo, the company now has four factories in Brazil and is one of the largest business groups in Latin America’s biggest nation. It began its push into Asia in the 1990s with the development of a production and distribution network which today spreads across China, the wider Asia-Pacific region and into the Middle East.

Santos recalled that throughout those formative years Hong Kong played a central role in the development of the Asian arm of the business. So much so, that in 2007 the company established an office in the Special Administrative Region (SAR). Now it views the city as central to China’s drive to create an economic powerhouse spanning the Pearl River Delta (PRD).

The plan behind the creation of that PRD powerhouse was published just over a year ago by the Central Government in Beijing and encompasses the Hong Kong and Macao SARs and nine cities in Guangdong. The transformation of the region – which contains a massive market of 70 million potential customers and has a combined GDP of US$1.6 trillion – is connected to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to establish long-lasting economic ties not only with its closest neighbours, but with the wider world as well.

Hong Kong at the Heart

From his office in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, Santos directs Mundial’s Asian marketing, sales and distribution arm. The Brazilian businessman is confident that despite the difficulties Hong Kong has experienced over the past two years, the city is still the best place to do business in Asia.

Explaining why that confidence remains undiminished, Santos said: “I love Hong Kong and I am certain that it remains the best place for Mundial to carry on its business. We have spent many years building up our networks and presence here, so why would we uproot and start all over again from scratch? It wouldn’t make any sense.

“There is nowhere else in Asia – and certainly not in mainland China – where the setting up of and development of a business is made so straightforward and simple with a minimum of hurdles and bureaucracy. Despite everything that has happened in Hong Kong over the past couple of years, we still believe that this city is still the best place to be in Asia.”

Santos pointed out that having the company’s Asian operation anchored in Hong Kong, with the Tsim Sha Tsui office/showroom and a warehousing facility in Cheung Sha Wan, enables Mundial to provide a 14-day fulfilment guarantee to clients in Asia and the Middle East.

As well as selling its products through specialised retailers on Shanghai Street and in Sham Shui Po (which is home to a slew of well-stocked kitchen and manicure/pedicure shops), Mundial is also exploring an expansion into online sales and is currently in discussions with e-commerce operator HKTV Mall. This is a particularly timely move, given that in March 2020 HKTV Mall announced that, in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis, it had achieved the highest monthly turnover of its six-year history.

Santos said that the company often discovers its products being used in restaurants and hotels, not only in Hong Kong, but also in other places across the GBA, including Macao, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

China Ventures

Mundial has production partnerships with manufacturers in several different parts of China, with each specialising in specific product ranges. Providing more detail on this geographical spread, Santos said: “Cutlery is made in Guangdong. For manicure products you have to go further up north, say to Ningbo, and for table and kitchenware you have to go even further north. That’s just the way China’s supply chain is arranged.”

He added that for the GBA initiative to be a success, entrepreneurs and provincial governments across the PRD should be taking a leaf out of Hong Kong's book when it comes to regulations and bureaucracy, saying: “I am really hoping that the GBA initiative will make doing business across the region as trouble-free as it is in Hong Kong. This could be a significant factor in making the project work for everyone.”

Production Split

To complement its parent company’s four factories in Brazil, Mundial has production facilities across Asia and sources products for the brand from suppliers in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Pakistan and India.

Santos explained that where the products are made is less significant than how they are made, saying: “I would say that in terms of production, the split between Brazil and our overseas production facilities is 50-50. But what is most important to us is to ensure the high quality of our products. If I had to, I would rank our products at the middle to high end of what is out there in the market, but honestly, in terms of production quality, durability and customer satisfaction, there is little difference between our products and those which some people might consider to be at the top end of the market.”

As well as manufacturing a wide variety of professional, high-quality and durable knives and kitchenware suitable both for domestic and commercial use, Mundial also produces cutlery and other household items such as cooking pans. Detailing the company’s range of products, Santos said: “We also make and distribute a range of manicure and personal care products such as pliers, scissors, cutters, tweezers, nail polish, buttons and fashion accessories. In addition, we have developed our own brand of innovative water pumps for baths, spas, boats and yachts.”