Las Americas: New president unsettles Mexico's PU industry

Mexico City — Polyurethane companies reported uncertainty following leftist Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s inauguration in December 2018.

The lack of confidence is worse among Mexican SMEs. Speaking at UTECH Las Americas, one executive at a multinational additives company said that, for him, it’s business as usual. 'But I have heard from customers, mostly medium and small-sized ones, that they are concerned,' he said.

Maxima Dimension is a Mexican Company which specialises in polyurethane coatings and resins. Technical manager Alfonso Roel Maldonado described it as 'a waiting game'.

'Companies are having to wait,' he said. '[They are] waiting to see if there will be changes, especially in the market that we’re most interested in: construction. [Waiting to see] what benefits there would be, if there will be improvements with new reforms.'

Karina Montes de Oca, the administrative director of Quimica Sagiatario, a Mexican specialty chemicals company based in the capital, also reported concern. 'With the transition to a government with a different ideology, there has been a bit of uncertainty,' she said.

'The market has been a little slow, there haven’t been any big investments and I think we have to expect that it will be like this for the next six months.'

President Lopez Obrador, commonly known by his initials AMLO, has had a strained relationship with the private sector. In October 2018, a month shy of his inauguration, he scrapped plans to build a new $13bn airport in Mexico City, unsettling investors.

Credit rating agencies have downgraded Mexico’s debt-laden state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). This could also call into question the country’s investment-grade status.

UTECH Las Americas was held in Mexico City, 10-12 April 2019.