ECUADOR - According to the annual ranking of the 1000 main Ecuadorian companies by sales published by Ekos magazine, the six companies in the wood and furniture segment that entered the ranking grew 0.1 percent in 2019, reaching USD 342.3 million compared to USD 341.8 million in 2018.

This growth was below the 0.3 percent expansion recorded by the Ecuadorian economy in 2019.

Three of the six companies in the wood and furniture segment that ranked in the Top 1000 - Novopan, Aglomerados Cotopaxi and Muebles El Bosque - managed to increase their sales in 2019. While sales of Edimca (Empresas Durini), Colineal and Botrosa decreased in 2019.

The highest sales growth in 2019 was recorded by furniture retailer Muebles El Bosque (+ 8.8%); followed by Novopan (+ 6.0%), the largest manufacturer of wood panels in Ecuador and by Aglomerados Cotopaxi (+ 1.1%), the only MDF manufacturer in Ecuador.

Novopan was once again the leader among companies in the wood and furniture segment in 2019, with sales of USD 142.5 million (2018: USD 134.5 million). Followed by Edimca, Aglomerados Cotopaxi and Colineal with sales of USD 57.8 million, 48.7 million and 41.2 million respectively.

In terms of net income, Novopan with a profit that reached USD 22.28 million in 2019 (2018: USD 27.43 million) was by far the best performer. Followed by Aglomerados Cotopaxi with USD 2.31 million and Colineal with USD 1.41 million. However, only Aglomerados Cotopaxi and Muebles El Bosque managed to increase their profits in 2019.