Surfactants
Update
Surfactants manufacturers focus on environmental issues and developing “greener”
technologies.
by Kerry Pianoforte, Associate Editor
Surfactants are a key ingredient in paint and coatings for- mulations. Ceresana Research estimates that the global sur- factant market will generate revenues of more than $41
billion in 2018—translating to an average annual growth of 4. 5
percent. With a roughly 37 percent share of global consumption,
Asia Pacific is the largest surfactant outlet, followed by North
America and Western Europe. According to Ceresana Research,
over the next eight years, shares in demand of the individual
world regions will shift significantly. The analysts from Ceresana
forecast countries in Asia-Pacific to increase their shares in global
surfactant demand—mainly at the expense of Western Europe
and North America. In addition, South America will see strong
growth, predominantly because of massive increases in production and consumption in Brazil.
“Asia is a rapidly growing region, especially in demand for
APEO-free offerings. This is especially evident in China for
two reasons,” said Shiona Stewart, additives marketing manager, Dow Coatings Materials. “First, a new standard (HJ/T
201-2005) is scheduled to come into legislation soon, requiring paint manufacturers to offer APEO-free paints in order to
comply with and pass the certification for China Environmental Labeling. Dow’s Ecosurf surfactants offer the compliance
solution and are generating tremendous interest from the region’s major paint manufacturers.
Additionally, recent high profile introductions of ultra low
odor, low VOC paints by several of the Asia Pacific region’s top
manufacturers are driving a significant market adoption trend.
“The largest volume gains in architectural coatings are coming from emerging economies such as China and India, but they
have also been impacted by the overall economic downturn,”
said Shruti Singhal, global marketing director, coatings special-
www.coatingsworld.com
March 2012
