Brazil Vinyl Market

Brazil Vinyl Market | Ready for the 2014 World Cup

Eyeing the World Soccer Championship, resin manufacturers increase their investments and bet on new applications for stadiums, tourism undertakings, transportation and infrastructure.

The World Cup is an event that occurs by stages. Many construction works must be carried out in the various host cities so that the country is ready to receive such a big event in 2014. Investments in infrastructure must be big, and start immediately. This will be a good opportunity for the plastics sector and its great potential of use for solutions that replace conventional materials.  In this sense, resin manufacturers have much to contribute. Check out what companies such as Quattor, Braskem, Sabic, Solvay and Bayer can offer, as well as their performance in the construction sector.  

Solvay's PVC: wide applications 

Civil construction is an important market for Solvay Indupa, which produces suspension/emulsion vinyl resins.  And the World Cup is a large field, as virtually all products produced by the company have applications in the constructions and works of the event.  “Regarding civil construction, clients transform our products into pipes, connections, ceiling panels, electric cable and wire coatings, floors, geomembranes and other laminated products for impermeabilization, vinyl wallpaper, conduit tubes, door and window frames, and windows, among many others”, said Édison Carlos. But the greatest feature is tubes and connections and large flexible sheets known as geomembranes, which are used as covers in European stadiums, and are very likely to be applied in Brazil.  According to Édison Carlos, 2008 was a very special year for the civil construction sector, in function of the money that came to be invested in financing for both private and state banks. “The sector grew almost 20% in the Brazilian market for both building construction and infrastructure related to basic sanitation", he said. 

Solvay Group has just concluded a project to enlarge its production plant in Santo André, which received US$ 150 million in investments in the last three years. This enabled Solvay to operate with a production capacity for PVC (polyvinyl chloride) increased in 22%, from 245,000 to 300,000 tons/year. Caustic soda also had an increase of production by 170,000 tons/year. In spite of the world financial crisis that reduced demand in many segments, the company foresees that there is room in the Brazilian market for the additional supply of PVC plastic resin, which is used especially for civil construction. There has been noticed a resume in the civil construction sector, with the help of initiatives of the Brazilian government, such as the reduction of the Manufactured Products Tax (IPI) and public investments in sanitation and infrastructure. This reaction of the market is confirmed by Anamaco, the Association of Construction Material Traders in Brazil. Last May, retailers reported an increase of 4.5% in sales compared to the same month in 2008. This resulted into a draw in the results of the four-month period when compared to the same period in the previous year. "We expect that is possible to end this year with a result similar to 2008. The sector had a drop of about 10% of sales in the first quarter", said the executive.  

Technology - Besides eyeing the expansion of production, the investment also contributed to modernize the manufacturing process through the use of a more environment-friendly system. The use of a mercury-electrolytic cell in the manufacturing process of caustic soda gave place to a technology that uses a electrolytic-membrane cell and reduces electricity consumption in 30%. The company also purchased a 160 m³ reactor for polymerization of PVC, the largest in Latin America.   Solvay Indupa keeps on with its project to construct a "green" PVC manufacturing plant based on ethylene from sugarcane ethanol, which is expected for 2010 / 2011. 

Braskem concrete/vinyl construction system

Construction is very important for Braskem, another player with vinyl resins in this sector. Particularly regarding PVC, civil construction applications sum up about 70% of the demand of this thermoplastic.  Regarding the World Cup, PVC transformation companies are very ready to provide solutions for the civil construction market, said Antonio Rodolfo Junior, Braskem's Application and Market Development in the PVC/Chloride sector. “But I would point out as important products in the future scenario, PVC pipes for multiple uses – water adduction and distribution, sanitation, sewer, and rainwater draining”, he said. The executive also said that, besides tubes, the concrete/PVC construction system can provide many opportunities to rationalize the construction of support areas among the several host cities of the Cup.

The Engineer agrees with Solvay's executive about the behavior of the market in 2008. According to Rodolfo, civil construction as well as all industries had a very strong year, but he stresses that the good results were until September and October. After this period, the sector endured the effects of the world economical crisis. “However, the various projects that were running did not halt in most of the cases, which has kept the demand for plastics products for civil construction. For infrastructure projects, however, there is still some decrease of demand.”  Source: Plástico Sul

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