Chinese B2B e-commerce group Alibaba has reached cooperation with Ludatrade, a Brazilian company that specializes in e-commerce solutions, marking Alibaba’s formal entry into the Brazilian market.

Timothy Leung, Alibaba’s sales director, told local media that Brazil, which plays an important role in the western hemisphere’s political and economic areas, is Alibaba’s first stop for South American market expansion. In addition, it has a large number of small- and medium-sized enterprises, which provides business opportunities to Alibaba.

Leung said Alibaba already has 150,000 registered users in Brazil, but it faces language and cultural differences for market expansion in the country. These problems force Alibaba to find local partners who are more familiar with the local market to attract more customers. He said with the development of its business, Alibaba will soon enter the markets of other Latin American countries.

Ludatrade said that Alibaba’s annual membership fee in Brazil is about USD4,500 and the members can gain translation and foreign trade training services along with the business platform provided by the Chinese e-commerce company. In addition, Ludatrade will include 60% to 80% information of Brazil’s export enterprises in Alibaba’s database in ten years.