Latin America. In an interview with Zona de Pinturas, Röhm's New Business Development Manager for the Americas, Andross Corona, shared his vision on the projections of the paints and coatings industry in Latin America.
During his time in the industry, which includes his time at companies such as Sherwin Williams and First Quality Chemicals, Andross describes it as "very particular" years, as he has seen 'n' amount of changes, many mergers and acquisitions of both raw material suppliers and paint manufacturers, which at the time were industry standards in his country.
"There's been a lot of consolidation, and it's a trend that doesn't seem to be stopping," Corona says.
"There are a number of global factors that could directly affect our region, since the political pendulum today swings much more to the left, in addition to the fact that global tensions and global initiatives such as BRICS can have a significant impact on the 'Doing Business' of our markets," he remarks.
However, he points out that demand is maintained with sustained growth, beyond considering factors such as GDP per capita, "derived from the fact that we have a demographic bonus that other areas such as Europe and Asia lack."
To this, he adds that "we are at the focus of major global trends" such as electric cars, which in his opinion would be potentially beneficial for countries with large lithium deposits such as Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Likewise, nearshoring stands out, which "paves the way to turn Mexico into a major global player, leveraging the current free trade agreements with the United States."
For him, the region currently represents an important growth opportunity for investment, "especially when capital flows are relocating, and Latin America can take advantage of this situation."
"I am a firm believer that the digitalization of the chemical industry is the biggest trend that we can take advantage of, optimizing processes, handling large amounts of data to get to know our customers better, automating and personalizing technical support, giving real-time visibility to logistics, handling complaints, creating financing, processing orders without people involved, etc.," concludes Andross.
