revenue in Brazil, where production has commenced on the deepwater insulation coating for flow lines and risers for Petrobras’
Sapinhoa field in the Santos basin,” the company reported.
Since both Mexico and Brazil have national petroleum companies, spending for on-shore and off-shore oil and gas development is massive, so corrosion control is a major focus of
industrial paint companies in the region.
At the same time, the white goods markets for appliances
and other products continues to grow in Mexico, especially for
U.S. consumption, and in Brazil. Powder coatings manufacturers are focusing closely on these two markets.
Environmental & Social Sustainability
Low-VOC and zero-VOC water-based paints continue to grow
in Latin America, and one formulation developed in Brazil this
year has now begun to be manufactured in Europe, says Kuiper.
“Our Coralite Zero trim paint was formulated here so that you
can paint a door, have it dry in one day, then close it without any
blocking effect,” he says. “It has attracted substantial interest in
Europe thus far,” he said.
Social programs also are a key focus of major paint brands.
Akzo Nobel’s “Tudo de Cor para Voce,” or “Everything in Color
for You” outreach program began as an experiment in 2008
with wall painting in a small ghetto that rose up a steep hill in
Rio de Janeiro. Today the program has grown to encompass
5,000 painted houses, donations of 600,000 liters of paint, and
the training of 2,800 youth who had no marketable job skills
before, the company says. “The program has touched 30 mil-
lion people so far,” said Kuiper. It has also spread from Rio to
a host of other Brazilian cities, including: São Paulo; Salvador;
Olinda; Porto Alegre; Ouro Preto; Porto Seguro; Florianópolis;
Fortaleza; Paraty; João Pessoa; Recife and Mauá.
Argentina
Argentina is predicted to grow only by one percent this year,
according to Eclac, but its paint consumption will decline, one
supplier says. “Last year the market in Argentina grew in vol-
ume by almost 10 percent, but this year it is shrinking about
two percent,” said Kuiper. “This huge difference has been
caused by adverse macro-economics and political circum-
stances, including a mega-devaluation and hyper-inflation,” he
observes. “So last year, people who were afraid that inflation
would erode their money bought a new car and a new com-
puter, and then painted their houses, so there was an artificial
boom,” he explained. “This year people are more cautious, and
many of them have already painted.”
Among manufacturer moves, PPG consolidated its automo-
tive and industrial manufacturing operations in Argentina at its
Pilar location, in Buenos Aires province, over the past year.
Brazil
With the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil is always in the
cross-hairs for multinational paint and coating manufacturers. In
the architectural segment, Brazil grew at a rate of seven percent
last year, and “we grew faster than that,” said Kuiper. “Our Coral
brand market share has risen from 23 percent to 28 percent over
the last six years. Brazil’s per capital consumption of paint is one
of the highest levels in Latin America at 5. 5 liters.”
