Pigments Market Panel Discussion
Coatings World interviewed a panel of experts to address key issues facing the
pigments market including the economy, new technology and strategies for
moving forward in 2010.
BY KERRY PIANOFORTE
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Coatings World (CW): How did the
pigments market perform in 2009?
How does this compare to 2008 and
what are your predictions for 2010?
Mehran Yazdani, vice president, marketing, performance pigments, Sun
Chemical: There continues to be strong
positive trends toward the usage of high
performance and effect pigments, but
overall, 2009 was a challenging year for
the pigments market worldwide and
had comparable results to the end of
2008 when the economic downturn officially began. While there are now signs
of recovery in the third quarter of 2009,
the struggling automotive market and
housing slump led to a decline in auto
sales, home building and paint use
worldwide. It is difficult to predict when
the economy will fully turn around but
we are cautiously optimistic that the
economy will show some improvement
in 2010. Until then, Sun Chemical
Performance Pigments is committed to
fulfilling our obligation as the leader of
the industry. We will take appropriate
measures to ensure that we can effectively weather the storm. At the same
time, we remain committed to investing
in our strategic imperatives and providing value to our customers.
Uwe Liebelt, group vice president, dis-
persions and pigments for BASF in
North America: The difficult economic
circumstances that began to impact the
pigments market during the second half
of 2008 continued throughout 2009. The
general erosion of the economy and par-
ticularly the large downturn in the
automotive industry significantly
affected the market. We have begun to
see some indication of stabilization in
key coatings sectors, and 2010 is expect-
ed to be better than 2009. Any improve-
ment this year will be fueled by a recov-
ery in the general economy and the
impact of innovative products launched
during 2008-2009.
Yu Adachi, Toyo Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd.: Both
domestic and overseas sales of commodity pigments remained lethargic, given
the sluggish demand for printing inks.
Moreover, the economic slowdown
impacted pigment demand and production in emerging markets.
Robert Poemer, business manager,
Heucotech, Ltd.: Overall the pigment
market was weak in 2009. Pigment
sales were down in all areas including
decorative, automotive and industrial.
The hardest hit areas for pigments
were in the automotive industry and
the building construction area of the
decorative market. Predictions for
2010 are for a mild recovery in the two
to three percent range over 2009 but
not reaching 2008 levels.
Falko Orlowski, North American business manager, Clariant: Compared to
2008 the company is seeing the demand
for pigments down by approximately
20%. The automotive market continues
a down trend but recovery in the industrial and decorative markets helped us
offset the decline in automotive. Our
expectations for 2010 are similar to
2009 with a slight increase.
David Woolven, head, sales and operations, Sudarshan North America Inc.:
The pigments market in most parts of
the world faced challenges resultant
from the global economic contraction.
This was a continuing trend that mirrored the performance of 2008.
Interestingly, Sudarshan’s domestic
market performed extremely well
fuelled by India’s economic growth. We
are optimistic for 2010—Sudarshan is
presently expanding rapidly in global
markets that we never sold direct into
before—we believe our value proposition and timing is right for those customers seeking a logical alternative to
their traditional suppliers, while fostering a level of confidence that is
missing from Asian suppliers.
Rick Cambell of Trust Chem USA:
Sales in 2009 were down between 20-
30% compared to peak sales in the
middle of 2008 in most of Europe and
the Americas. However, in the second
half of the year, sales started to
improve and further growth is expected in 2010. Trust Chem USA started
