The ABRAFATI 8th International Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which was held September 3-5, was amazingly upbeat and showed a 46% increase over the 2001 Exhibition. There were 136 exhibitors and 16,000 visitors, including 416 foreign visitors from 29 countries.

The reason for seeing the high energy level at this exhibition could be the continuous reduction of basic interest rates, the increase in real estate sales, the car tax reduction and the incentives for the procurement of electrical appliances. According to ABRAFATI Executive President Dilson Ferreira, "we had a weak first semester, recording 3% less sales when compared against the same period in 2002. We hope that the first detectable recovery signs can intensify now, not only brought about by the measures taken by the government, but also because the end of the year traditionally registers in Brazil greater demand for paints."

Ferreira believes that the industry can close the year with up to 2% growth. In the year 2002, the Brazilian paint industry invoiced US $1.12 billion, of which 60% corresponded to real estate paints ($672 million), 25% to industrial paints in general ($280 million), 9.02% to automotive repainting ($101 million) and 5.98% to the automotive industry ($67 million).

The industry's production capacity amounts to 1 billion liters of paint per year, and last year the total paint production totaled 857 million liters, divided as follows:

  • 77.36% real estate paints;

  • 15.28% industrial paints in general;

  • 3.5% paints for the automotive industry; and

  • 3.85% paints for automotive re-painting.

    When comparing the years 2001 and 2002, the volume of manufactured paints grew 1.7%, whereas in 1994 (the beginning of the economic "Real Plan), this volume grew 21.4%. Low- and middle-cost paints have been gaining more importance and currently represent over 50% of the total volume, while in 1997 they only accounted for 37%. There are approximately 300 paint and varnish manufacturers. The industry accounts for 16,000 direct jobs and is responsible for approximately 300 thousand indirect jobs, comprising suppliers, distributors and painters.