Pan-Regional Latinpin Ramps up Programs

Latinpin, the pan-Latin paint and coatings organization, is ramping up its programs in several key areas, including economic reporting, lead abatement, and harmonized codes, drawing in more professionals from across the region.

Latinpin, the Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Técnicos y Fabricantes de Pinturas y Tintas, now counts nine national association members, encompassing Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay.

The organization was created nearly a decade ago, and has slowly evolved as a driving force in the regional industry. Under the current leadership of Brazil’s Luiz Cornacchioni, Latinpin initiated its first quarterly economic analysis, Hechos & Datos (Work and Data) in June.

“The primary goal of the Hechos y Datos newsletter is to provide an overview of what is happening in the region, with statistical information and analyses of its scenarios,” Cornacchioni said in an email to CW.

“We are trying to collect production and sales information in all countries represented at LATINPIN, as well as other countries in the region, so we can have a more complete and accurate picture that confirms the importance of Latin America in the world’s coatings production and highlights its growth potential. Today, we estimate Latin America to account for about 8% of the global output,” Cornacchioni says.

Cornacchioni is also the President of Brazil’s paint and coatings association, Associação Brasileira dos Fabricantes de Tintas. Marcelo Herrera, representing Mexico’s Asociación Nacional de Fabricantes de Pinturas y Tintas (Anafapyt), is Latinpin’s First Vice President. Nicolás Iadisernia, representing Argentina’s Asociación Tecnologia Iberoamericana de Pinturas, Adhesivos y Tintas (Antipat), serves as the current Second Vice President.

Latinpin 2023 Goals

“Our work plan for 2023 is based on three priorities: increasing the visibility of Latinpin, demonstrating its relevance, and providing more services/value to members and the coatings ecosystem,” says Cornacchioni. “To tackle these priorities, we are carrying out a series of actions and planning on others, such as holding webinars, publishing newsletter, expanding our presence and getting more followers on LinkedIn, having greater interaction with the specialized media, making more information available on our website and advertising materials, and developing closer relationships with associations on the Iberian Peninsula (to which we have a cultural and linguistic proximity),” he says.

“All these actions will help us enhance Latinpin’s representativeness and draw more members,” observes Cornacchioni. “The four primary goals of Latinpin are:
1) Increasing the region’s representation in global forums relating to coatings, in particular the World Coatings Council (WCC);
2) Stimulating technological advancement and the spreading of technical knowledge across the industry by favoring exchange of information and dissemination of best practices;
3) Promoting cooperation on regulatory and statutory issues; and 4) Producing relevant data and studies to become a reliable source of information on the Latin American market,” Cornacchioni explains.

Construction Slowdown Pervasive

The June quarterly report reviews the state of the construction industry in Brazil and Argentina, the two largest economies within the Southern Cone subregion, which also includes Chile and Uruguay.

The reports observes that in Brazil, after 10 quarters of growth within civil construction, the Câmara Brasileira da Indústria da Construção (CBIC) — or the Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry — announced the revision of its projections for 2023, reducing the growth outlook from 2.3% to 2.0%.

“One of the main factors for that is the increase in interest rates. Even so, if this 2.0% growth materializes, it will be the third year in a row that the sector will grow above GDP (Gross Domestic Product),” the report states.

“Brazil has a huge demand for housing construction and improvement in existing housing units. Brazil’s housing deficit exceeds the mark of 7 million units, and there is an even larger number of dwellings in precarious conditions,” points out Cornacchioni.

“In the other countries in Latin America, you will find those very same problems, to a greater or lesser extent. It’s a major social issue and, at the same time, an opportunity for boosting the construction industry, which is an engine of the economy and creates many jobs,” Cornacchioni says. “We are confident that this situation can be improved through governmental and private-sector investment, based on consistent projects and on society’s awareness that this is a priority issue,” he says.

Among countries facing great challenges in the construction sector is Argentina, the report notes. “The Construya index (IC), prepared by the Construya Group of Argentina, registered a seasonally adjusted decrease of 4.6% since June 2022 compared to the same month [a year earlier], and was located 9.1% below March 2022,” the report indicates.

“This [Argentine] situation is in line with what is happening in other sectors of the economy. However, demand is expected to remain at these levels in the coming months,” according to Grupo Construya.

Mexico’s construction industry, in contrast to the slower-growing Southern Cone, is looking up, thanks in part to the advent of nearshoring. Fitch Solutions reported in May, that “Mexico’s construction industry is set for continued growth in 2023 and 2024, as robust public infrastructure investment and growing industrial investment tied to nearshoring boost construction activity, offsetting the impact of weak macroeconomic conditions on the industry.”

“This quarter we have revised up our forecast for Mexican construction industry value (gross value added), and now expect the industry will grow by 1.1% y-o-y in 2023 and by 2.9% y-o-y in 2024, up from previous forecasts of a contraction of 0.5% y-o-y in 2023 and growth of 2.8% y-o-y in 2024,” Fitch Solutions predicted.

According to a recent survey by Bank of Mexico (Banxico) involving more than 400 companies, “30.7% of companies mentioned having signed new contracts with foreign companies or having increased their production due to relocation…A similar proportion, of 29.1%, said that they have hired more personnel, increased their use of installed capacity, or increased the surface area of rented properties,” the survey notes, according to Mexico News Daily.

Automotive Recovery Still Lags 2019

Turning to the automotive industry, the Latinpin report describes accelerating growth, albeit not yet at the level registered prior to the pandemic in 2019.

“In Brazil, Anfavea [the Associação Nacional dos Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores] forecasts point to growth of 4.2% vs. 2022, reaching a light vehicle production of 2,267,000 units. In Mexico, growth of 6.6% is estimated for this year according to AMIA [the Asociación Mexicana de la Industria Automotriz] figures. In Argentina, the first quarter of 2023 presents growth of 28.1% compared to the same period of 2022, and there is no forecast for the year yet,” the report observes.

The difference between current growth and 2019 is still stark: “Brazil and Mexico are expected to end this year with a joint production of 5.8 million vehicles, some 12% below what was recorded in 2019, when that total was 6.6 million,” the first quarter report indicates.

Advances in Lead Reduction

Lead abatement has been a key focus of the organization since its inception. “Latinpin has been playing an active part in discussions about eliminating lead from paints — not only in architectural products, but in all coatings — fostering exchange of information and seeking to share best practices,” says Cornacchioni.

“The result is very positive, with advancements in terms of regulations, in countries where they are consolidated as well as those where they are a work in progress, like Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil,” Cornacchioni says. Latinpin hosted a webinar on the reduction of lead paint in October 2022, with the aim of encouraging additional national legislation among member countries.

The webinar was led by José Antonio Rojo, then the Vice President of Communication of Latinpin, together with Cindy Moreira and Hugo Oxoby members of Latinpin’s Sustainability Commission, Mónica Alcalá President of the Sustainability Commission, and Diana Carolina Álzate, the Normalization Manager focused on Sustainability.

“Currently, several countries seek to enact a standard for the maximum control of lead in paints; achieving this will prevent permanent damage to the health of consumers,” the webinar hosts advocated. To help the drafting of these needed regulations, Latinpin’s website offers members a long list of international lead reduction resources, including organizations, guides, and updates.

Among other webinars that Latinpin has hosted recently focused on the global Harmonized System codes for export and tariff nomenclature. “GHS is a global regulation, but there are differences in its implementation among countries, particularly on account of the different versions of the Purple Book adopted in each of them,” says Cornacchioni. “Accordingly, labeling requirements are different as well — and those need to be known so goods can be moved around within the region without running into trouble,” he adds.

Regulatory Comparison

Latinpin also is charting differences in other types of national regulations that affect the paint and coatings industry, across the region. “Our chart comparing regulations in the different countries was thought out as supporting tool to promote cooperation on regulatory and statutory issues,” says Cornacchioni.

“We seek to gather information on where each country stands on the foremost regulatory issues related to the coatings universe: lead, the GHS, VOCs, etc. We want to gather and study technical regulations currently in effect as well as those being created in the region, and then comparatively analyze them and formulate models to serve as a guide to understanding where the region is moving toward on issues related paint quality, technological innovation, sustainability and the circular economy,” Cornacchioni says.

“Latinpin’s Sustainability Committee is at the helm of these efforts, which also involve making webinars on each of the issues in order to share information and answer questions — as was done in early July for GHS,” Cornacchioni concludes.