Coatings World - June 2014

By Charles W. Thurston, Latin America Correspondent

The estimated $9.7 billion Latin American market for paints and coatings is rising in importance relative to ther geographic markets as economic growth in the region climbs upwards and as large new investments by both customers and suppliers are planned. “We expect the regional market to grow a few percentage points ahead of GDP (the gross domestic product), but the region is very polarized, with some countries growing fast, some at a good pace, and some not expected to grow at all over the next two or three years,” said Adriana Macouzet, PPG’s general manager of Latin America North, in Mexico City.

Sherwin-Williams calculates that Latin America represents
seven percent of the global demand for all paints and coatings,
according to a company presentation to investors made at the
end of first quarter 2014. The percentage was greater for the ar-
chitectural segment, which represents nine percent of the global
consumption, and was trailed by both the OEM and Special
Purpose segments which both were pegged at four percent of
the global total, in the S-W comparison. For Sherwin-Williams,
Latin America represented 4. 6 percent of the company’s total
profit in 2013, the study indicated.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (Eclac), based in Santiago, the region expanded by 2.5 percent during 2013 and is predicted to grow by 2.7 percent this year, the agency reported in April. That would place the growth of Latin American paint and coatings in the neighborhood of 4. 7 percent to 5. 7 percent this year, since annual paint sales are typically a few percentage points ahead of GDP. A variety of international multi-client studies have pegged growth in the region at 6.0 percent per year over the near to mid-term.

Consumption Linked to GDP Per Capita While corporate and government expenditures in the industrial paint and coatings segment are affected by GDP growth in general, consumer expenditures in architectural and automotive segments are more linked to GDP per capita. The most recent compilation