"Paints market in Egypt is highly fragmented," says SCIB Paints

Let’s start first of all with your evaluation of the paints industry in Egypt.

The paints industry definitely has long term potential with the kind of construction which is happening now in the country and with the large and growing population. With every marriage you need a house so it has got good long term potential. However, the prospects in the medium term are not very attractive.

Why is that so?

The reason is that there has been a crisis in terms of availability of US dollars to purchase raw materials and most of the raw materials are imported. So all the companies have to import raw materials and in the last two years the availability of foreign currency has become an issue. This has led to pressure on the bottom line of all companies. That is why new investments which will be made by companies will be under pressure.

Talking about Asian Paints and SCIB, what is your position within the market? What is your market share? I know you are in the interior paint decorating industry?