By Charles W. Thurston, Latin America Correspondent
The estimated $10 billion demand in Latin America for paints and coatings is oddly mixed this year, as the econo- mies in some of the largest countries – including Brazil
and Colombia – slow down, while others like Mexico, Peru and
the Caribbean accelerate modestly. Overall, a regional expansion
of 0.9 percent is estimated by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) this year, while the forecast for 2016 is 2.0 percent. This
makes for difficult investment plans and more costly importation
of raw and finished materials, although some paint markets in
some countries are still growing at a few percentage points above
gross domestic product (GDP), a tendency during growth years.
One recent effort to smooth out paint industry policy, data
collection, and stimulation measures was the formation of the
region-wide paint and coatings association in Latin America, the
Federación Latinoamericana de Fabricantes de Pinturas (LatinPat),
or the Latin American federation of paint manufacturers, with
a headquarters in Mexico, and officers in Brazil and Argentina.
Latinpat is headed by Javier Maldonado Moctezuma, the general
director of PSI Pinturas, based in the city and state of Puebla.
Countries with Accelerating Growth
IMF suggests that the strongest growth – at 0.2 percent or greater – is occurring this year in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Honduras,
Costa Rica and the Caribbean.
Mexico is perhaps the most promising market for paint and
coatings in the region, as a result of both its growth rate and its
size. With a 3.1 percent growth rate this year, and a forecast 3. 3
percent in 2016, the IMF reckons, Mexico’s GDP has a value
of $1.26 trillion, a sizeable component of the entire region, at
about $6 trillion. The PPG acquisition of Comex is expected to
lead to a broader offering of paints and coatings in Mexico, and
in the Central American/Caribbean region Comex now services.
PPG is investing more than $27 million in its San Juan del Rio,
Queretaro, Mexico, coatings manufacturing facility. “The additional
capacity will enable PPG to meet increasing demand for its coatings
by automotive OEM, protective and marine, packaging and indus-
trial customers in Mexico,” said Mark Silvey, a PPG spokesman.
In the Caribbean, growth is being led by the Dominican
Republic, at 5.1 percent this year, with an accompanying GDP
value of about $6 billion. With a strong history of export as-
sembly, demand for paints and coatings is likely to be centered
on powder coatings for consumer goods parts.
In Central America, Panama is exhibiting the strongest growth
at 6.1 percent, according to the IMF forecast. Panama has become
a major real estate market for foreign investors, helping drive the
demand for architectural paints. American Paint Company is one
leading domestic paint manufacturer there.
In a regional move, Andes Chemical in August forged an alliance with Croda International, based in East Yorkshire, UK, to
provide water-based paint and coatings chemicals to paint manufacturers in the Caribbean and to Central America. Croda has a
laboratory in Mexico, and had plans last year to build a laboratory in Campinas, Brazil.
Countries With Stable Growth
The IMF defines stable growth as running between plus-or-minus
0.2 percent, or flat growth, in the 2015 vs. 2014 comparison. The
countries with this rate Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Guyana, which
Latin America Paint Outlook
Mixed, But Growing
AkzoNobel paints Santa Marta in Brazil
