Uruguay Paint Consumption Rises on GDP
Uruguay’s paint
market heats up
as the economic
recovery continues.
by Charles W. Thurston
Latin America Correspondent
thurstoncw@rodpub.com
Uruguay’s national architectural paint market is estimated at $45 million, based on consumption of 15 million
liters provided by approximately 20 paint companies, according to a recent report by El Empresario, in Montevideo. While the market has
not grown much since the economic downturn
of 2002, many signs are that growth is back.
The driving factor in such growth is the economic recovery, which tallied an expansion of
nine percent last year. That growth rate was the
second highest in Latin America, following
neighbor Paraguay, with 9. 7 percent, according
to the United Nations’ Economic Commission
for Latin America, or Eclac. And in December,
London’s Legatum Institute declared that
Uruguay ranked third in the Americas—and
28th globally—after Canada and the U.S. in
their annual Prosperity Index.
Foreign investment in Uruguay is also heating up rapidly, with a reported 35 percent jump
during the first-half of 2010. Among major new
investment projects in Uruguay is an estimated
$1.9 billion pulp mill jointly planned by Stora
Enso, of Finland, and Arauco, of Chile. Another
project being planned is a new port facility for
the Rocha area, which could cost up to $2.5 billion. Total foreign direct investment in 2009 was
$1.3 billion.
Currently, approximately a third of the total
volume of architectural paint consumed in
Uruguay is imported, El Empresario indicated,
citing statistics analyzed by Urunet, a provider
of foreign trade statistics. Among domestic
brand paint companies are Pinturas Elbex-Behar, Pinturas Granitol and Pinturas Inca, purchased by AkzoNobel in 2008. Other
international paint companies active in the market include Sherwin-Williams, Brazil’s Renner
and Argentina’s Sinteplast.
Automotive paint sales also are rising as new
car sales break records, thanks to greater purchasing power in the country. Uruguay’s per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) is now the
Lamp on an orange wall in Colonia, Uruguay.
fourth highest in Latin America at more than
$10,000, following only Chile, Mexico and
Venezuela, and notably ahead of close economic
neighbor Argentina. Uruguay’s GDP is more
than $32 billion.
While Uruguayan imports of architectural
paint are substantial, the country also exports
paint ingredients and concentrates, the report
indicated. Last year, exports through November
amounted to $43 million, with 26 percent of
that value going to Brazil and 20 percent going
to Argentina. Other destinations for the materials included Chile, with 6. 5 percent of the value,
Paraguay with 2.3 percent of the value and
Venezuela with two percent of the value. Beyond
Latin America, Uruguay also exports to countries including Poland and South Africa, according to statistics attributed to Uruguay XXI,
the national investment promotion agency.
Among exporters, Inca is notable, both for
its 20 million-liter-capacity production facility,
and for its one million-liter-capacity distribution center.
New product development is a way
Uruguayan paint companies aim to boost sales.
Elbex, for example, recently launched a new
anti-microbial paint formulation. Another way
companies are seeking to spur greater sales is
more advertising. Granitol, for example, has
produced a variety of television spots, which it
also posts to consumer-oriented websites like
youtube.com. Similarly, Inca is promoting
Colour Futures 2011 to augment sales of the latest fashion in color decoration. CW
