The Asia Pacific Report
August 2017 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 37
more and more being required to be the solution provider. By
that we mean that they are forced to combine the service with
the products. The final end user just looks at the results. This
is especially true in China. For example, as competition heats-
up in the architectural coatings market, more and more paint
producers are actually doing the painting job as well. They are
doing this with trained contractors as partners. As a result of
the trend to be a solution provider, some Chinese paint makers
are also teaming up with other material suppliers like ceramic
tiles, kitchen cabinets and flooring companies to be able to pro-
vide all of the individual customers’ decorating needs. Similar
to coatings markets around the world, Asian industrial coatings
customers are requesting coatings systems with fewer layers and
lower cure temperatures. This helps improve productivity but
also results in the coating being viewed as more environmen-
tally friendly since the entire system results in less material and
energy consumption. Speaking of environmentally friendliness,
another major trend is that going green will definitely be a con-
tinued theme in Asia. China will start to charge a tax on VOC
emission for low-solids solventborne paint.
Overall Outlook
The overall outlook for the Asian coatings market remains
strong although growth will not be quite as high as it was a few
years ago. Despite the slightly lower growth rates, the economic
forecast for Asia remains very strong compared to the rest of the
world. China will continue to be a very important part of the
market and its growth will remain strong. India may grow at a
faster rate than China going forward so it might provide some
interesting opportunities for coatings companies.
Finally, there are several important trends affecting the Asian
coatings market. These trends include the trend of coatings companies becoming more of a solution provider, coatings that can be
applied in fewer layers and lower cure temperatures (these are especially important in the industrial coatings segments) as well as
an increased trend toward environmentally friendly coatings. CW
