PAINT and coatings manufacturer Lanco Jamaica Limited is targeting annual sales growth of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent as it moves to deepen its presence in the local market, expand its product offering, and position Jamaica as a manufacturing base for the wider Caribbean.

The company expects its planned build-out of a US$25million manufacturing plant in Caymanas, St Catherine, to play a key role in achieving that growth target by improving product availability, expanding production capacity, and supporting its push into new market segments.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview, Lanco Jamaica Managing Director Alberto Perez said the company expects to significantly increase its customer base as the expansion takes shape.

“We would like to grow our sales by about 20 to 30 per cent a year,” Perez told the Business Observer, while noting that the expansion would provide the capacity needed to support that objective.

“We currently serve hundreds of customers but we are also looking to grow our customer base in a much larger way,” he added.

Construction of the new plant is expected to begin before the end of this year, with completion timed for as early as 2028.

“We are now waiting on the contractors to get started with construction activities. The new Jamaica outlet will be our 14th factory, so we have some experience, and we also have the machinery and all the other equipment needed so the build-out, I think, should take between a year and a half or two years,” Perez said.

Indicating that the plant will incorporate newer and more energy-efficient production technology, Perez said this should help to improve manufacturing efficiency as it strengthens Lanco’s competitiveness in Jamaica’s paints and coatings market, which now includes other players such as Berger, BH Paints, Edgechem, and Sherwin Williams.

Lanco, in looking beyond conventional paint products, is also seeking to capture a greater portion of current market share. To this end, Perez said the company is focusing on specialised products and formulations that can perform multiple functions, including one that combines paint, primer and sealer in a single application.

“We are concentrating right now on identifying things that others don’t do,” he said, while declining to disclose full details of the products being developed ahead of their official market roll-out.

Lanco’s portfolio currently includes architectural and industrial coatings, wood finishes, adhesives, sealants, solvents and removers, as well as a range of caulks and silicone products used in construction and plumbing applications. In addition to Lanco Paints, its major brands include Harris Paints, Crossco, Enco, Weco and Corona Corlanc.

Perez said the commencement of manufacturing locally, in giving Lanco greater control over its product mix and availability, is also critical to sustaining sales growth, especially as the company looks to grow revenues beyond the domestic market.

The company’s longer-term objective, he said, is to manufacture products in Jamaica for distribution throughout the Caribbean, with formulations designed specifically for the region’s climate and operating conditions.

“Our idea is to put our products made in Jamaica all over the Caribbean,” Perez further noted.

Lanco Jamaica forms part of the Puerto Rico-based Blanco Group, which operates across several markets in the Americas and Caribbean.

The group reported coatings sales of approximately US$748 million last year, up 15 per cent from US$650 million in 2024. Architectural and decorative coatings accounted for 84 per cent of sales, while general industrial and industrial maintenance products contributed 15 per cent, and automotive finishes the remaining one per cent.

In addition to its five manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico, the group also has production facilities in Orlando, Florida; Costa Rica; Nicaragua; Santo Domingo; Colombia; Jamaica; Guatemala; and Chile. The company employs more than 2,800 people across its operations.

Given Jamaica’s geographic position, infrastructure and access to regional market, Perez said this makes the country well suited to serve as a manufacturing base for Lanco’s Caribbean expansion.

“The new factory is therefore expected to serve as both a growth engine for Lanco Jamaica and a potential manufacturing hub for the company’s expansion across the region,” he said.

State minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment, and Commerce Delano Seiveright, recently commenting on the planned expansion, underscored the factory’s potential to create opportunities for Jamaica to increase its exports to the wider Caribbean.

“This factory that they are building in Jamaica is the only one that will be built specifically for the Caricom region. It will bring dozens of jobs and indirect opportunities for Jamaica, and we are very excited about that. As a country we want the growth and the development, and our productive sector continues to carry a lot of great opportunities,” Seiveright said.

An assortment of Lanco products. In addition to Lanco paints, its major brands include Harris Paints, Crossco, Enco, Weco and Corona Corlanc.