Charles W. Thurston, Latin America Correspondent01.15.16
A variety of Colombia analysts have suggested that the recent efforts at peace with FARC rebels by President Juan Manuel Santos, including a notable summit in Havana, could provide the political stability the country has long needed for sustained growth.
GDP in Colombia was up 3.2 percent in third-quarter 2015, and expectations for full year growth are at 2.7 percent, according to BBVA, a leading bank in the region. This growth is driving consumer spending, good for architectural paint and coatings consumption, and is warming auto sales of domestically produced vehicles, boding well for both OEM and after-market automotive paints.
One limit to growth is the softening peso, which adds cost to imported paints and coatings products. The peso depreciated by close to 40 percent since the oil price decline began in mid-2014, and 20 percent since the end of June 2015, according to Fitch credit rating agency.
Leading paint producer Pintuco set a goal of adding 35 Tienda Pintacasa Pintuco stores during 2015, increasing coverage to 57 cities in Colombia. The goal for 2018 is to increase the store count to 300, according to statements by Jean Jeaques Thiriez, the general manager of Pintuco. Regionally, the company is expanding its 150 store base in Venezuela (less so than elsewhere), Ecuador, the Antilles, Curacao and the Central American countries.
DIY chain Sodimac Colombia, partly owned by Chilean retailer Falabella, the country’s largest, is also investing in new stores. Following an $80 million capital expenditure in 2014, the company issued $160 million worth of shares in July 2015, to finance CapEx some 50 percent higher during 2015. Among new facilities is a $25 million third distribution center in Colombia. The company now has 35 stores across the country.
Housing prices also are climbing in Colombia, increasing the demand for architectural paints. Prices were up 9.5 percent in 2014, according to the national statistics agency, Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE).
While auto sales are predicted to slow to some 300,000 units in 2016, more domestic sales are resulting from domestic production than import. Export sales of autos will be encouraged by a new eight-year bilateral auto agreement with Brazil, under which up to 50,000 units per year from each country can be shipped to the other with less sales tax.
Santiago Piedrahita will be the new president of Pintuco parent conglomerate Grupo Orbis as of February 2016. Among his goals for Pintuco is to expand its so-claimed 20 percent share of Latin American paint market, with emphasis on growth in Ecuador and Mexico. The company has been growing at a 12 percent to 13 percent rate lately, Piedrahita was quoted saying in December. The company is also moving to emphasize its own brands overseas, in place of licensed brands, like Glidden in the Panama market.
Among recent marketing efforts, Pintuco is donating paint for the re-painting of some 1,200 small houses and buildings in the tourist town of La Macarena, population 4,000, located south of Bogota in the Department of El Meta. Located on the plains of the Orinoco River, La Macarena is known as a destination for viewing Rio Caño Cristales, the “River of Seven Colors,” for its bright algae and vegetation.
GDP in Colombia was up 3.2 percent in third-quarter 2015, and expectations for full year growth are at 2.7 percent, according to BBVA, a leading bank in the region. This growth is driving consumer spending, good for architectural paint and coatings consumption, and is warming auto sales of domestically produced vehicles, boding well for both OEM and after-market automotive paints.
One limit to growth is the softening peso, which adds cost to imported paints and coatings products. The peso depreciated by close to 40 percent since the oil price decline began in mid-2014, and 20 percent since the end of June 2015, according to Fitch credit rating agency.
Leading paint producer Pintuco set a goal of adding 35 Tienda Pintacasa Pintuco stores during 2015, increasing coverage to 57 cities in Colombia. The goal for 2018 is to increase the store count to 300, according to statements by Jean Jeaques Thiriez, the general manager of Pintuco. Regionally, the company is expanding its 150 store base in Venezuela (less so than elsewhere), Ecuador, the Antilles, Curacao and the Central American countries.
DIY chain Sodimac Colombia, partly owned by Chilean retailer Falabella, the country’s largest, is also investing in new stores. Following an $80 million capital expenditure in 2014, the company issued $160 million worth of shares in July 2015, to finance CapEx some 50 percent higher during 2015. Among new facilities is a $25 million third distribution center in Colombia. The company now has 35 stores across the country.
Housing prices also are climbing in Colombia, increasing the demand for architectural paints. Prices were up 9.5 percent in 2014, according to the national statistics agency, Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE).
While auto sales are predicted to slow to some 300,000 units in 2016, more domestic sales are resulting from domestic production than import. Export sales of autos will be encouraged by a new eight-year bilateral auto agreement with Brazil, under which up to 50,000 units per year from each country can be shipped to the other with less sales tax.
Santiago Piedrahita will be the new president of Pintuco parent conglomerate Grupo Orbis as of February 2016. Among his goals for Pintuco is to expand its so-claimed 20 percent share of Latin American paint market, with emphasis on growth in Ecuador and Mexico. The company has been growing at a 12 percent to 13 percent rate lately, Piedrahita was quoted saying in December. The company is also moving to emphasize its own brands overseas, in place of licensed brands, like Glidden in the Panama market.
Among recent marketing efforts, Pintuco is donating paint for the re-painting of some 1,200 small houses and buildings in the tourist town of La Macarena, population 4,000, located south of Bogota in the Department of El Meta. Located on the plains of the Orinoco River, La Macarena is known as a destination for viewing Rio Caño Cristales, the “River of Seven Colors,” for its bright algae and vegetation.