EUROPE

International Coatings Scene
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“The most buoyant market has
been Germany where the
country’s GDP grew by 2.2
percent in the three months to
June, the fastest quarterly
growth in 20 years.”

percent fall in new registrations in May as government support schemes were discontinued.

In addition to a big surge in demand for OEM paints prompted mainly by higher car exports, the German coatings sector has also benefited from the increase in exports from electrical equipment and machinery.

“These three markets—OEM, electri-
cal and machinery—have been the main
drivers behind increasing coatings sales,”
said Bross. “After machinery output in
Germany declined by around 40 percent
last year it has increased sharply.”
AkzoNobel reported strong demand
for powder coatings, especially in
Eastern Europe, and also a quick
rebound in the Turkish market for wood
finishes and coatings. In specialty plas-
tics coatings there were increased sales
in Europe in contrast to declining vol-
ume and revenue sales in Asia.

AkzoNobel, the European market
leader in decorative paints, reported
that besides strong demand in Turkey
and Russia and “moderate growth” in
the UK, its other decorative markets in
the region were “stable to declining.”
The UK housing markets started to
falter in the second quarter after an 8. 9
percent rise in house prices in the first
quarter. In Spain house prices fell by 4. 7
percent in the first quarter amidst a
slump in demand for paints and other
building products.

Sales of OEM auto paints soared earlier in the year as output of passenger cars went up by 34 percent in the first three months compared with a year ago. But production was still 13 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2008, according to figures from European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

BASF Coatings—most of whole sales are in the OEM sector—recorded a 23 percent rise in sales in the first half of the years, which was also underpinned by a “good order volume” in the auto refinish segment.

However European demand for cars has begun to decrease again with a 7. 4 percent drop in sales in April and a 9. 3

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