The paint industry began 1998 with good results. Production for the first quarter increased 17.3% over the first quarter of 1997. A 3.22% decrease for the second quarter was less than for the same period of 1997, when it had been 7.3%.

Analysis of the data represented in Table 1 would predict the solid growth of production for the third quarter. However, the crisis that occurred after August 1998 events greatly affected forecasts and a 24.9% decrease occurred over the third quarter of 1997. More detailed information on leading companies and factories’ paint production is shown in Table 2. The represented companies have steady paint manufacturing and the largest production.