Latin Market Analysis 2006

The year 2006 was a very positive year for Latin America in terms of economic performance and suffice it to say that it has even been the best in decades. It was a record year in terms of exports and some countries presented exorbitant growth, such was the case of Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Panama and Peru.

The Latin American market, although mature, presents enormous contrasts. Undoubtedly, the region has made progress in terms of the acceptance of new technologies, but much is missing in relation to the training of technicians and engineers, so it is considered that Latin America is still an emerging market, although the bad trend that the market is price-oriented still remains, what it determines when buying.

In general, the market presented particularities in the sectors that correspond to this publication. The commercial refrigeration sector had a significant growth during 2006.

In the refrigerant gases segment, 2006 was significant for regularization, after supply problems of a key product such as the 134th. Work began to encourage the replacement of the R-12. The negative factor was the entry on a larger scale of Chinese products, which, at times, did not meet the quality characteristics to meet the demand of the most common economic segments in Latin America.

Similarly, the controls segment presented a sustained growth, confirming a trend of a market well prepared technically and eager to implement high-performance solutions.

With regard to industrial refrigeration, growth in 2006 was higher than expected, and the main investments, at least in the Andean Region, were driven by supermarkets, milk processors, air conditioning, industrial refrigeration with ammonia and commercial refrigerators.

For the refrigeration compressor segment, there was growth in all Latin American countries.

However, the tendency to irregularity tends to decrease thanks to the quality and support that many well-known brands have been offering. Another issue that must be taken into account is that the HVAC/R segment has many differences in each of the countries, that is, we cannot talk about market uniformity, since for example, when it comes to technological advances, nations tend to be dissimilar.

Another important factor that could be discerned in this market analysis was the lack of help from governments to boost business growth because politics and economics are highly interdependent and we must add that international regulations, has become a determining factor for the refrigerant segment.

Given Latin America's price orientation, large international companies have to look for new strategies to be able to market the products, especially if the avalanche from China is taken into account.

The main predispositions have led to a greater dynamism in refrigeration, driven by an application in various economic sectors; for its part, the controls segment was boosted by hotels and especially the development of construction in Latin America.

Contrary to expectations, Latin America is shown as a market that assimilates technology and, it seems, that for first world companies, earning a reputation as a reliable supplier is the best marketing strategy in a market as diverse as that of Latin America.

Thus, the technological development focused on the region has launched many marketing strategies but perhaps one of the most effective could be the development of technology based on the particularities and needs of each country.