Growth above the market

Shakhty professional building mixtures are gaining popularity in the market. The interview on the industry situation and plans for 2018 was held with Alexander Dushenin, the Head of Sales of the Dry building mixtures commodity line of the Unitile Group of Companies.

— "Dry building mixtures line is in the total scope of production and financial indicators of Unitile."

— "But it does not become less important because of this."

— "That, in particular, is confirmed by its active development."

— "For the most part. Suffice it to say that production growth has made up 50%, sales have increased by 60%, and the product range has grown by half. Especially I want to mention such products as decoration plasters – they has turned out to be of a very high-quality, and brick mortars, the popularity of which is growing rapidly. In spring our line will be supplemented with one newer product – a brick mortar for hand-formed bricks, our partners are keenly awaiting it."

— "It is worth remembering the first shipment to Kazakhstan."

— "Yes, and this is particularly important in the conditions of localization and emergence of a large number of "local" industries."

— "Let's talk about localization. Recently, workshops for the production of dry building mixtures grow up like mushrooms in every region. Is it so profitable?"

— "More likely, it is explained by simple logistics requirements. The longer the shipment distance, the more expensive the product packaging. On the other hand, there is a danger of occurrence of a large number of low-quality products."

— "Is it so difficult to produce dry mixtures? You know the recipe, the proportions, bought the equipment, so go forward."

— "Firstly, it is not enough just to know the recipe. Even the one who knows proportions does not yet know a secret. Remember the famous dialogue from the film "Visit to the Minotaur," where young Stradivari joyfully says to the teacher: "I've found the secret of your varnish" And do you remember what the teacher answers? "Today is a joyful and sad day for me. You've found the Stradivari varnish, and this varnish is better than the Amati varnish".

To produce a high-quality building mixture, good equipment and a great work of technologists in selecting additives, based on the way they will "behave", "resist" local raw materials or "cope" with them, are required. We need tests for compatibility with other materials that builders use in their work. It's no coincidence that we introduced "standards" - samples, which each package in each batch of a certain range must match.

— "If there is "firstly", then there is also "secondly"?"

— "Secondly, the production equipment. You cannot forge a detail for a spacecraft in a medieval smithy. That's why we initially installed the most modern equipment, including that for the quality control laboratory. And we are constantly modernizing it. In particular, in 2018 significant investments are planned for the renewal of our capacities. We took part in the recent fifth Russian Days of Dry Building Mixtures international conference and with great interest got acquainted with the latest equipment developments offered by such leading manufacturers as the Finnish company Lahti or French company Actemium”.

— Let's talk about the conference. What do professionals think about the prospects of the building mixtures market?"

— "They think that there is a positive tendency. The moderate decline was observed only in 2016, but the consumption of mixtures decreased by only 2%. However, already in 2017 manufacturers showed an increase by 5%, the consumption also increased by 5%. In 2018 the additional 7% growth is forecasted. To some extent, this is due to the revival of the construction industry, but to a much greater extent - due to the fact that both professionals and "private traders" prefer to replace cement with finished products of the better quality.

— "What are your plans and prospects in this regard?"

— "Today, the industry standardizes the market, the formation of a healthy competitive environment, and we expect further growth in the popularity of dry building mixtures among professionals. I have already said that experts expect an increase in the consumption of mixtures by about 7% that will allow manufacturers to pass the psychologically important milestone of 10 million tons in 2018.

We, on our part, set for ourselves the task of showing growth above the market. By the way, one more interesting novelty, which, I am sure, will help us in the implementation of the planned, is a comprehensive solution for construction and repair, which is Unitile PRO that includes ceramic tiles, porcelain tiles, bricks, and mixtures.

Our most important advantage is a high quality of the product with the optimum price offer, which guarantees a long service life, thereby allowing to avoid the costs of reworking, alterations and new repairs. The warranty for our products is 25 years upon the observance of work performance procedure.

Also, this year we are introducing a new commercial policy for market participants, which will allow us to work more effectively with our product and increase its availability in the regions. I can say with full responsibility that cooperation with Unitile provides opportunities for successful business development: through the partnership with the largest and fastest growing producer, and through the support that we provide for our partners."