pacity is restarted. However, where there
are still fundamental imbalances in sup-
ply and demand, we would expect to see
continued tightness and potential short-
ages again this year. Sun Chemical Per-
formance Pigments is committed to
fulfilling our obligation as the leader of
the industry during this challenging time
by remaining committed to investing in
our strategic imperatives and providing
value to our customers.”
Although there are reasons for opti-
mism, raw material prices and supply is-
sues continue to plague the pigment
manufacturers.
“A key trend and challenge we saw in
2010 was the substantial increase of raw
materials costs,” said Yazdani. “After two
years of rapid decline in demand, we saw a
significant increase in demand in 2010. Unfortunately due to raw material shortages
and increased environmental and regulatory compliance costs, we saw a significant
amount of cost increases in raw materials.
We expect this trend to continue in 2011.
“There also continues to be strong pos-
itive trends toward the usage of high per-
formance and effects pigments,” said
Yazdani. “At Sun Chemical Performance
Pigments, we continue to work on control-
ling our own costs closely with our supply
chain partners, to improve our internal op-
erations, and to develop new value ori-
ented products that can help customers
grow their business. We will continue to in-
vest in those areas that provide our cus-
tomers with innovative products and
services allowing them to be more compet-
itive and present the best value proposi-
tions in the market.”
“The major concern facing the global
pigments market today is raw material
supply and pricing,” said Poemer. “Com-
modities and oil prices are rising which
are affecting raw material prices and sub-
sequently pigment prices. There have also
been shortages in the availability of inter-
mediates for the pigments. These have
been caused by a variety of reasons in-
cluding regulatory issues in India and
China and inventory reduction of inter-
mediates due to the global economy.
“Another major challenge for the
global pigment market continue to be the
global economy,” Poemer continued.
“There are countries in Europe that are essentially going bankrupt and are having to
be bailed out by the EC. The U.S. economy
and in particular the baking industry needs
to regain the confidence in order to assist
in rebuilding the housing industry. Pigment
manufacturers are therefore challenged to
provide environmentally responsible products with higher performance properties at
pricing that is equivalent to current offerings,” said Poemer.
“Competition is intense and we are see-
ing ongoing consolidation of traditional
suppliers with new sources expanding to
fill the void,” said Campbell. “Some key is-
sues are cost instability and the general
trend of increasing cost because of cur-
rency issues, inflation and growing envi-
ronmental compliance cost in countries
like China where an increasing percentage
of pigments and more importantly, pig-
ment raw materials are made.”
Pigment manufacturers are also dealing
with complying with increasingly stringent
environmental regulations such as the EU’s
REACH. “Trust Chem expects to fully
register more different pigment chemistry
than other Asia suppliers,” said Campbell.
“We do not think pigment buyers fully un-
derstand how the REACH registration
program could effect the availability of or-
ganic pigments worldwide. In 2011 we ex-
pect only a small impact but over the next
five years, no one really knows if REACH
will result in fewer suppliers and further
product line consolidations. And of course
no one really knows when the economies
in the major industrial countries will re-
cover causing uncertainly and reluctance
to expand capacity.”
According to Marsicano, another chal-
lenge is meeting coatings customers de-
mand for higher performance pigments,
such as lightfastness, weatherfastness, al-
kalai resistance and improved color space
at prices equivalent to or below that of cur-
rent offerings. “The increasing demand for
high performance, special effect and heat
management pigment solutions represent
key market trends,” he said. “BASF has a
robust portfolio of pigments that provide
unique performance characteristics and
benefits that address each of these three
trends. High performance pigments (HPP)
enable enhanced durability, opacity and
higher hiding and are compatible across
broad application areas. Special effect pig-
ments provide exceptional brilliance and
ultra-high chroma needed for the creation
of novel designs and product differentia-
tion. Heat management pigments provide
solar energy management solutions, in-
cluding near-infrared (NIR) reflective pig-
ments, NIR transparent organic pigments,
and stir=in pigment dispersions and addi-
tives for transparent applications.”
Despite the many challenges facing the
pigment industry, there are also plenty of
opportunities for growth. “From the mar-
ket segment viewpoint, we expect continue
growth in cosmetics, specialties, and niche
markets,” said Yazdani. “We also expect
flat to declining market in automotive, ar-
chitectural, and ink markets. The trend for
more efficient and smaller cars in the au-
tomotive market will see a reduction in
paint consumption, however, it will also
increase the demand for color. This trend
will help to fuel the continued growth in
high performance and effect pigments.”
“Traditional markets such as automo-
tive and the industrial segment will con-
tinue to be primary consumers of high
performance and special effect pigments,”
said Marsicano. “Similar to last year, we
see interior and exterior decorative appli-
cations as a high growth area for HPP
based on increased interest for materials
with improved durability, opacity and
weatherfastness properties by our cus-
tomers. Used in a wide range of end mar-
ket applications from automobiles, house
exteriors to electronics and many more,
special effect pigments address demands
for brand and product differentiation as
the range of aesthetic color values contin-
ues to expand. Further, we anticipate
growth in demand for heat management
pigments as rising energy costs and global
warming concerns increase the need for
solar management solutions within archi-
tectural and construction applications.”
“For our company, growth is happen-
ing in all market sectors,” said Campbell.
“Worldwide demand for printing ink is ex-
pected to decline gradually because of the
effects of the internet, especially for publi-
cation inks. For our company, we expect
the demand for high performance pigments
to grow faster than ‘traditonal’ pigments.”
