Renner Opens New Plant in Recovering Chile

Brazil’s family-owned Renner Coatings has opened a new production plant and laboratory in Pudahuel, in the Santiago Province of Chile, amidst growth reports that are moving GDP expectations higher this year.

Renner Coatings is the high-performance architectural and industrial division of Renner Herrmann, based in Curitiba, in the Paraná State of Brazil. Elsewhere in Chile, Renner Coatings has a manufacturing plant in Antofagasta that is oriented to the mining industry, the largest contributor to Chile’s economy.

Renner Coatings Chile’s General Manager Francisco Estades told the Mercurio in late August that “The Renner group bet in Chile because it is a growing, economically solid country, which is why it invested in a modern, high-tech plant, with an emphasis on safety and care for the environment.”

Among major client projects underway in Chile, Renner Coatings is serving the battery-grade lithium carbonate plant in Antofagasta and the  new Santiago Airport.

Sister company Renner Sayerlack also has a factory in Lampa, in the Chacabuco Province of Chile. Renner Sayerlack, which reported sales of $117 million in 2017, manufactures and distributes wood finishing and marine coatings and paints, and is based in Cajamar, Sao Paulo State; it operates a plant in Minerbio, Italy.

The new plant investment comes at a time when international economists are upgrading their predictions of growth in Chile, which expanded 5.3 percent during second-quarter 2018 compared with the year-earlier period, according to the Chilean central bank. The growth is the strongest expansion in nearly six years, the bank said in late August.

Full-year growth for Chile is now pegged at close to four percent, shadowed by domestic demand which is up about six percent.

Fitch Solutions adjusted its outlook in late August for the Retail & Consumer segment of Chile to a 3.4 percent growth rate for 2018.

“Rebounding economic activity, robust wage growth and the election of business-friendly Sebastian Pinera as President underpins our positive outlook for the Chilean consumer over 2018 and into 2019,” the risk rating agency reported.

Average hourly wages in Chile reached an all-time high at approximately $7.50 in May, with nominal hourly wages rising 3.2 percent in the month, compared with the year-earlier period.

More liquid consumer demand, aided by increased credit lending and increased investment in the country, should bode well for premium-grade architectural coatings in Chile.

Beyond Chile, Renner Coatings has a manufacturing facility in Curitiba.

The premium division forged a partnership in October 2017 with Bergolin, based in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany, for rotor blade coatings targeted to Brazil and other South American country markets.

In 2016, Renner Coatings formed a co-labeling partnership with VersaFlex, based in Kansas City, Kansas, for Brazil and Chile. Renner Coatings gained access to VersaFlex’s high-performance pure polyurea coatings, linings, sealants and repair materials under the new brand RenFlex.

As part of the agreement, Renner Coatings also provides training and qualification for installers and engineers under the auspices of Polyurea University in Houston.