duction. In 2009 estimates of coatings production across all markets exceeded 6.2
million tons, and ink production reached
450,000 tons. China still has plenty of
room for market development. The industry, however, faces many challenges that
include stiff competition, tight margins
and low levels of R&D investment by historic standards. Herein exists an opportunity for suppliers of coating and ink
materials and equipment to improve quality, reduce cost, and enhance service and
technical support.
Experts predicted that China’s coatings
market in 2009 would be worth USD
$105.2 billion in value and reach
USD$112.8 billion in 2012 with an annual growth of 2.4 percent. Meanwhile,
recent data released by the state statistics
bureau show that China has become the
second largest coating consumer and producer due to the fact that total national
coating production rose to 6.2 million
tons in 2009 with an annual growth of
16.2 percent. This figure includes 4.97
million tons of oil paint production.
China is the fourth largest ink producer
and accounts for approximately seven percent of total world production. Estimates
of total national ink production rose to
420,000 tons in 2009. Entry into the
World Trade Organization (WTO), increasing urbanization and the development of the media industry should result
in an eight percent and 12 percent annual
growth in the publishing and packaging
industry respectively. The growth in these
sectors will have a powerful effect in driving future demand for ink.
It is estimated that there may be as
many as 8,000 paint producers inside
China. The largest players in the decorative market are Nippon Paint, ICI Paint,
Beijing Red Lion, Hempel Hai Hong,
Shunde Huarun, China Paint, Camel
Paint, Shanghai Huli, Wuhan Shanghu,
Shanghai Zhongnan, Shanghai Sto,
Shanghai Shenzhen and Guangzhou Zhu-jiang Chemical. Overall, PPG, SKK, STO,
Supe, Ashley, solid grams, King River, elephants, Shenzhen, Ferris, Three Silver and
other works are the top ten brands of architectural coatings sold in China. Although there is no exact measurement of
the size of this market it is estimated that
in 2009 the market was about 2.2 million
metric tons. It is expected that it will grow
at a rate in excess of 10 percent over the
next five years. Since 2004, the largest segment has been interior water-based coatings. In 2010 that market was estimated
to be 800,000 metric tons. The overall improvement of per capita income for the
average Chinese individual has allowed
"[China's coatings in-dustry] faces many
challenges that include stiff competition, tight margins
and low levels of R&D
investment by historic
standards. Herein exists an opportunity for
suppliers of coating
and ink materials and
equipment to improve quality, reduce
cost, and enhance
service and technical
support."
more families to become homeowners.
Until recent times, the government and
banks were highly supportive of individual home ownership. Due to the global
economic downturn banks have backed
off in their lending which has slowed the
housing development compared to just a
few years ago.
On the automotive front, U.S. auto
sales dropped to their weakest rate since
February as most automakers posted
sharp declines from a year earlier, when
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Coatings World | 19
