Coatings World - August 2013

segments of the coatings industry more than others. For example, within the industrial coatings sector, sales of automobiles and other consumer goods are closely linked to personal income and overall GDP. As GDP and personal income within a particular country increases, sales of products requiring coatings also increase. Economies in Asia expected to see the greatest increase in GDP over the next several years include China, India and certain Southeast Asian counties. Some of the more developed countries such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand are expected to have GDP growth below the global average.

As mentioned earlier, another major factor impacting the
size of a country’s coatings industry beyond GDP growth is
per capita consumption of paint. While GDP growth has
been quite rapid in the Asian Pacific region, the relatively
low paint consumption per capita indicates that room for
future growth is potentially quite large. On a global re-
gional basis, there is wide variation in coatings demand per
person. For example, the per capita consumption in Asia,
which is less than five liters, is significantly lower than that
of North America at nearly 12 liters per person per year. As
the developing economies of Asia grow and as the standard
of living continues to increase in these countries, so too will
the demand per capita for coatings. The growth potential
that exists for coatings in Asia is tremendous given the large
populations and the population growth compared to Europe
and North America. Figure 4 depicts coatings demand per
capita for Asia Pacific compared to the other four regions of
the world. Since growth in consumption per capita closely
mirrors growth in GDP per capita, the expectation is that
the growth areas of the past five years will continue to be the
growth areas for the next five years.

About the Authors: Charles Bangert, MBA and Scott Detiveaux, MBA are partners within Orr & Boss, Inc., a leading international management consulting firm to the specialty chemicals industry, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. ( www.orrandboss.com).