LATIN AMERICA
BY CHARLES W. THURSTON
LATIN AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT
THURSTONCW@RODPUB.COM
Eucatex grows with Brazilian market
Paint sales
for Eucatex,
Brazil’s
seventh
largest paint
producer,
grewing a
whopping
44% in 2007.
Paint and coatings sales by Brazilian
fiberboard producer Eucatex jumped
by 52% to approximately $21 million
( 37 million reais) during fourth quarter 2007,
compared with the prior-year quarter, the
company has reported. Full-year 2007 paint
sales were nearly as robust, with a 44% jump
to approximately $67 million (R118 million or,
from $R82 million in 2006). The exchange
rate for the Brazilian real ended the year at
1.77 reais to one U.S. dollar. Overall, the company produced 10. 8 million liters of paint at
its Salto, state of Sao Paulo, production facility. With more than 2,300 employees, Eucatex
exports fiberboard to more than 30 countries
to strategic buyers including Home Depot,
while paints and coatings are primarily sold
within Brazil.
Eucatex is now the seventh largest paint producer in Brazil, with a three percent market
share, following Suvinil, Coral, Sherwin-Williams, Renner, Lukscolor and Akzo, according
to market analyst Lafis. Of these, Renner and
Eucatex are the remaining majority domestical-ly-owned companies. Eucatex has a short-term
goal of raising its market share to five percent of
the overall paint and coatings market.
Eucatex produces a full line of architectural
coatings, including acrylics, varnishes, enamels and other wood and stucco coatings and
finishes. The company also produces flooring,
doors and partitions, supplying the domestic
furniture and construction market.
Eucatex’s paint segment accounted for
15% of sales in 2007, up from 12% the year
before. Until 1995, when the Salto factory
began production, Eucatex only produced
paints and coatings for its own use in the
production of fiberboards. Now the company
has built a strong position in the architectural segment with the premium Eucatex
brand, and with its economy brand Peg-Pint. Within its product portfolio of fiberboards, the company includes approximately 30 different color coatings.
“For all manufacturers, sales in the
Brazilian paint and coatings industry
were up six percent to $2.75 billion
in 2007 compared to 2006...”
The company recently announced plans to
build a new R$130 million thin high-density
and medium-density hardboard plant at Salto.
While the company’s primary sales are based
on renewable forest products, it also is very
active in environmental efforts. Eucatex has
the capacity to process 20,000 metric tons of
waste wood or wood fiber products per month,
and has advanced equipment for separating
paper, plastic, metal and non-ferrous materials.
For all manufacturers, sales in the Brazilian
paint and coatings industry were up six percent
to $2.75 billion in 2007 compared to 2006,
according to preliminary figures recently
released by the Sindicato da Industria de Tintas
e Vernizes do Estado de São Paulo, or Sitivesp,
the São Paulo State association of paint and
varnish manufacturers. The association cited an
increase in real estate credit and tax cuts as
major factors in the increased sales, which
amounted to 350 million gallons—
approximately 1.3 billion liters—last year, compared with
330 million gallons in 2006. At the same time
paint and coatings exports rose 14% last year to
56,000 metric tons, compared with 50,070 metric tons in 2006, Sitivesp data showed. CW
