Suvinil Invests Nearly
$100 Million in Brazil Positioning
Abrafati says
Brazil’s architectural
segment will double
expansion this year.
by Charles W. Thurston
Latin America Correspondent
thurstoncw@rodpub.com
BASF’s Suvinil architectural line in Brazil recently announced plans to invest 180 million reais, or about $98 million, into
product improvement, new products and market positioning, according to end-of-year statements by Antonio Carlos Lacerda, senior vice
president for BASF in South America.
“With these investments and actions, we expect to hold a 40 percent of the market share during 2012, and to increase that to 50 percent by
2020, Lacerda was quoted as saying in late December. Suvinil is targeting the premium architectural sub-segment, which has been growing more
rapidly than lower-value paint lines, thanks to increased consumer income and credit lines.
A year ago, Lacerda made comments to local
press suggesting that Suvinil would grow by
eight percent during 2011. Suvinil is basing its
undefined, but faster-than-market growth projection for 2012 on a prediction by the national
paint association Abrafati, or the Associação
Brasileira dos Fabricantes de Tintas, that the architectural segment in Brazil will expand by four
percent during 2012, or twice as fast as 2011.
Among production investments, Suvinil is
now in its second year of a four-year plant to
boost production by 70 percent. Much of the
new production was predicted for a new plant
at Guaratinguetá, in Sao Paulo state. Suvinil
production is now centered at the company’s
São Bernardo do Campo location, near the city
of São Paulo, the largest production site for
BASF paints and coatings in Brazil, the company
said. Capacity at the site is 330 million liters of
coatings, paints and resins, including automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinishes, industrial coatings and the Suvinil brand.
Similarly, modernization at the São
Bernardo do Campo plant, also in Sao Paulo,
and the Jaboatão dos Guararapes, in Pernambuco state will contribute to the capacity expansion which is aimed at 500 million liters
per year. Last year, Suvinil also claimed a 90
percent capacity utilization rate, compared to
only about 85 percent for the Brazilian paint
industry as a whole.
Among new products Suvinil is touting in the
market is its Acrylic Antibacterial line, which was
launched in July 2011. Other marketing moves
include a six-part website series produced by TV1,
which features three minutes each of upscale
home painting information and demonstrations.
Suvinil has posted the series on its campaign website www.suacasaseuorgulho.com.br, as well as on
You Tube, Twitter, Facebook, Fan Page and Orkut.
Among production in-
vestments, Suvinil is
now in its second year
of a four-year plant to
boost production by 70
percent.
Another area of marketing Suvinil is pursing
is university research for innovation. A group at
Universidade Estadual Paulista, at Sorocaba, in
Sao Paulo state, for example, recently won a prize
from Suvinil for a project dedicated to utilizing
the urucum tree for natural color ingredients.
Urucum, or Bixa orellana, is best known as the
source of the natural pigment annatto, produced
from the fruit. Annatto is less expensive to produce than the competing pigment beta carotene.
Apart from domestic sales, Suvinil also exports to Paraguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolívia and
several African countries. CW
