Coatings World - June 2008

fidence that this accelerated growth momentum will gain further impetus as the investment continues.

“China is clearly fundamental to our global strategic vision and we are fully committed to expanding our activities in what is one of the world’s most important emerging markets,” Wijers said in a statement.

“By hitting our targets we will have quadrupled our revenues in China in well under ten years,” he continued. “We also expect the Asia-Pacific region to have almost doubled its contribution towards the company’s global revenues in the next five years.”

The last few years have seen significant Akzo Nobel activity in China, where the company’s 2006 revenues totaled $800 million. As well as announcing a €250 million investment for a new chemicals multi-site in Ningbo, Akzo Nobel has also opened new coatings facilities in Suzhou, Langfang, Tianjin and Jiashing, bringing the total number of plants to 22.

The new Langfang site in northern China that opened last year is dedicated to boosting the company’s presence in the country’s decorative coatings market.

The addition of the new facility, situated just south of Beijing, means that Akzo Nobel now operates three deco production sites in China, the other two being located in Suzhou in the east and Guangzhou in the south.

The new Suzhou site is operated by Akzo Nobel

THE ASIA-PACIFIC PAINT INDUSTRY

Information Research (IRL) has launched the eighth edition of its Profile of the Asia-Pacific Paint Industry, which provides a detailed overview of ten paint markets across the Asian region.

Collective paint demand for the ten countries covered has been estimated at 10. 6 million tons. The individual market sizes are summarized in the chart below.

Average annual growth for the paint and coatings markets across these countries is placed at 8.8%, which will add another 5. 5 million tons of paint demand by 2011. This reflects double-digit growth in the Chinese and Indian paint and coatings markets, tempered by more modest growth in other key locations such as Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia. Selected trends, which are highlighted in the report include:

• Strong demand for architectural and wood coatings in China as a result of the booming construction sector;

• Rising demand for architectural and protective coatings in India through ongoing investment in construction and infrastructure;

• High marine paint demand in South Korea through large numbers of orders for the shipbuilding industry;

CHINA

Aerospace Coatings (ANAC) and will support existing sales and distribution operations in Asia Pacific.

Akzo Nobel Car Refinishes (ANCR) formed a partnership with Great Wall Motor, a major Chinese car manufacturer. ANCR will provide a wide range of paint refinish products and related services to Great Wall’s franchise of dealers and bodyshops.

In addition, last year Akzo purchased decorative paint manufacturer Guangzhou Toide and in 2006 it purchased paint maker Chang Cheng.

A new DuPont Performance Coatings plant has begun manufacturing operations in the Jiading district of Shanghai.

The new DuPont Jiading plant, near Shanghai, will supply automotive refinish coatings and industrial finishes to China and other Asia Pacific markets.

“The on-time opening of the Jiading plant is another major milestone in the transformation of our performance coatings business into an organization with strong global capabilities,” said Terry Caloghiris, group vice president, DuPont Coatings & Color Technologies. “The Chinese automotive collision repair market is one of the fastest growing in the world, so this plant positions us to serve it in a responsive and efficient manner.”

The new plant currently employs 160 people. Employment is expected to grow to approximately 250 once manufacturing operations reach capacity. The plant is the company’s tenth

• Rising consumer awareness of health and environmental matters, with particular emphasis on R&D in this area in mature economies such as South Korea and Japan;