The Market for High Performance Flooring in Brazil - Scenario and Perspectives of the Segment

This report aims to update information on products and services involved in the production chain of High-Performance Flooring, as well as serving as a strategic tool to support the joint growth of all companies investing in the sector.

The sector's challenges have been enormous in the last 5 years due to the efforts of civil construction to resume growth in the post “Lava Jato” gate period, where the economic environment was unstable, with high interest rates, strong exchange rate devaluation, galloping inflation, resulting in high input prices, not to mention the recent occurrence of the pandemic, the troubled international scenario of the war between Russia and Ukraine, in addition to the recent increases in interest rates in most developed countries, mainly in the USA.

On the other hand, the industrial flooring market in general, including HPF from 2021, showed a strong recovery due to positive movements in the industry in terms of expansions and renovations, mainly in the food & beverage, pharmaceutical industries, in addition to automotive industry movements, as well as oil & gas that will reinforce the continuity of these investment movements and opportunities in the coming years. According to estimates by DAJ Consultoria, the industrial segment will represent more than 52% of the total area to be applied with HPF in 2023.

In addition to the expansion and evolution of the industrial sector, the wholesale and retail sector also evolved with the e-commerce boom, causing many companies to adapt to more resistant floors.

The containment of investments, mainly in the first half of 2020, caused by the uncertainties of the pandemic, resulted in growth in the industrial flooring market in 2021, including the HPF sector.

As we know, HPF works on floors with a greater need for resistance, whether to withstand a high flow of people, machinery or vehicles or in need of greater demands in terms of hygiene, ease of cleaning, contact with food, resistance to chemicals, microbiological control, environments with thermal shock, electrical conductivity; and environments that require architectural aspects, demarcation and reflectance.

Despite playing an important role in the logistics sector, distribution centers, retailers and wholesalers, high-performance floorings play a very significant role in industry in general (one of its main sectors), as well as in refrigerated facilities, garages, hospitals, clinics, shopping centers, commercial centers, car dealerships, sports and community centers, public spaces in general, hotels, airport hangars, gas stations and more sophisticated residential condominiums.

About 67% of the applied area of HPF in 2021 was concentrated in renovations / maintenance of floors and 33% in new floors, so, eventually, a large portion of business for HPF is to come in the coming years due to base growth (concrete floors) of new developments that will undergo maintenance or renovation in the future, which reinforces the positive scenario for the future.

It is important to point out that business involving high-performance flooring showed a demonstration of evolution from the middle of 2020 and 2021 mainly due to the industry, which, in addition to the projects postponed at the beginning of 2020, took advantage of the period of COVID-19 pandemic’s restrictions to prioritize eventual reforms and expansions in its units.

Despite the positive movement in demand, especially in this post-pandemic period, formulators/processors had difficulties in serving the market due to the price increases and lack of resins and hardeners, most of which is imported material. These factors “immobilized” the sector in certain applications / technologies, which led users to search for alternative solutions, often considered as not technically ideal for the type of floor.

As for the processes used, the market continues to be divided into two technological profiles: 1) high-performance resins, which are applied in multilayer, self-leveling, mortar/spatula processes and 2) high-performance paints, which operate in the same market segments, but with different characteristics. different technical, commercial and business cycles.

This division between HPF technologies (resins and paintings) has moved the market, and the acquisition profile does not vary only due to technical needs, but also due to several other aspects, such as targeting of trading companies, availability of products / materials raw materials, advances in material technologies, quality of application processes, delivery times, commercial conditions; among others.