Civil construction industry to make US$ 45.7 billion this year
DCI - 04/08/2008
With the continuity of the good economic moment of the Country, the construction materials industry is expected to make R$ 80 billion (US$ 45.7 billion) in 2008, a growth of approximately 15% over 2007 revenues. According to the president of the Brazilian Association of the Industries of Construction Materials (Abramat) Melvyn Fox, the good performance of the sector, just like last year, is linked to the population's income increase, the longer financing terms, and the reduction of the interest rates. Fox also mentions the cutting of red tape of the sector, result of the exemption of the tax on industrialized products (IPI) over 44 civil construction material items, as a leveraging factor of this industry's segment. According to Abramat's data, domestic sales of the sector in the first two months grew 31.7% compared to last year's same period and the forecast for the first semester is 18% of growth in the same period comparison. The basic materials (such as cement, iron, mortar, etc.) showed better growth in the first two months of this year, around 33%, whereas the sales of finishing material rose 26%. The segment of finishing materials includes the industry of home paints. The sector, which had sales of US$ 2.4 billion in 2007, foresees a growth around 7% this year. In this respect, Suvinil, a Basf's brand of home paints, foresees a two-digit growth, above the market's. The company, leader in the sector with nearly 60% of share presents today, in the 16th Feicon (International Fair of the Industry of the Construction), a new latex line and nano-particle based and fast drying paints. Tintas Coral's manager of Institucional Relations, Sueli Freitas, also foresees a two-digit growth, around 10%, with revenues around R$ 780 million (US$ 445.7 million). Coral is the vice-leader of the paints market, with 30% of market share. Akzo Nobel, the world's largest paing manufacturer with 14% of share, brings two new products to the Feicon: Sparlack Décor, a colored varnish for wood and Renova, a standard acrylic paint of the Ypiranga brand, both national products. According to Akzo Nobel's marketing director, Robert Abreu, the company has been increasing its market share in the last few years. Currently, the group's market share is 4.5%.