by Shem Oirere
Africa Correspondent
The growth prospects for Egypt’s paints and coatings market look promising in the short and medium term after the country steered itself
out of the 2011 chaotic political revolution and managed to woo private sector
investments in the real estate, industrial
and general infrastructure segments.
The promulgation of a new constitution and successful 2014 and 2015
presidential and parliamentary elections
respectively has helped restore some
degree of confidence in the country’s
economy and the largest manufacturer
and consumer of paints and coatings in
North Africa.
Despite the demand for paints and
coatings having declined in 2011 and
soon after because of what some analysts
said was the estimated 7 percent decline
in real estate investments to $4 billion,
market experts say the industry is up and
catching up fast.
“Domestic demand for paints and coatings is expected to grow from $142 million in 2013 to $552 million in 2018 at the
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
4. 5 percent,” said Richard Weissenberg,
business unit leader for chemicals, materials and food at Frost & Sullivan in an
interview with Coatings World.
He said Egypt’s growing population,
now estimated at 93 million and growing at 2 million every year, and higher
per capita income that is expected to be
$2772 by the end of this year, are fuelling
the expansion of the paints and coatings
consuming sectors such as housing and
other amenities.
Some investors have already expressed
interest in tapping into the increasing de-
mand for housing. For example, in 2014
Egypt signed an agreement with United
Arab Emirates-based contractor Arabtec
to build one million homes across the
country over a 10-year period at a cost
of $40 billion.
In addition, the government has ap-
proved a plan to build a new adminis-
trative city for Egypt over a seven-year
period at a cost of $45 billion. The
project will provide jobs to one million
people and provide housing to at least
five million others. These are examples
of major projects that are expected to
keep high the demand for paints and
coatings in Egypt.
Weissenberg said although there is no
confirmation of the value of the paints
and coatings market for 2016, the mar-
ket was valued at $435 million in 2013,
dominated by decorative paints that held
74 percent of the market share. Other
segments were wood coatings 10 percent,
industrial protective paints 9 percent, au-
tomotive coatings 4 percent and marine
coatings 3 percent. (See chart 1)
He said currently Egypt is the largest
manufacture, consumer and exporter of
decorative paints in North Africa. The
decorative paints segment, Weissenberg
said, has been influenced by the histori-
cal preferences of the Egyptians for things
white and lighter.
“Historically, the Egyptian paints in-
dustry has been favorable towards whites
and lighter shades although in recent
years there has been a swift towards
bright,” said Weissenberg.
The tinting segment of the decorative
paints grew from $30 million in 2008 to
$57 million in 2013 and the segment is
“expected to continue strong growth in
the coming years.”
There has also been a new trend in the
Egyptian coatings market is the steady
transition from alkyd paints towards
emulsion paints.
“Alkyd paints were preferred by the
applicators until 1990 due to their per-
ceived protective strength and durability
but with the emergence of acrylic emul-
sions, alkyds are losing their presence
gradually,” he said.
A review of the decorative paints mar-
kets show that the emulsion paints take
up 51 percent of Egypt’s decorative paints
market share while tinting and alkyd
(synthetic) paints take up 18 percent and
31 percent respectively.
A large share of raw materials for
the making of paints and coatings, up to
55 percent according to some estimates,
are imported mainly from Germany and
South Korea although there is some lo-
cal production for the materials such as
linseed oil and solvents.
The importation and utilization of
these raw materials for the decorative
paints is done by many companies in the
market, which is currently dominated
by PACHIN, Jotun, Sipes and KAPCI
Coatings. These companies supply their
paints through distribution network to
institutional projects and to retailers.
PACHIN has the largest share of
Egypt’s decorative paints market ac-
cording to 2013 statistics at 25. 6 per-
cent. Sipes and GLC had a 17.2 percent
and 13. 8 percent share respectively
while SCIB & KAPCI coatings com-
bined had 8. 6 percent. Jotun and Mido
Paints had 8. 3 percent and 4.1 percent
respectively while all other companies
had a combined share of 22. 4 percent.
The other companies include A- Plus
for Car Paints Factory, Alexandria Co.
for Paints & Chemicals (Velvet Paints),
Al-Haram Paints Factory, Al-Saad for
Mixing Paints, Colorama for Paints
& Modern Building Chemicals Co,
Egypt Paints, Jordanian for Chemical
Industries Co, Modern Chemical
Industries Co, Modern Co. for Paints,
Nile Co. for Paints & Coatings,
Raghdan Paints Co and Technicolor
Factory. (See chart 2)
Products manufactured by these com-
panies are supplied to distributors, who
sometimes meet the demand by coloring
centers and also project customers.
“These distributors are further
connected to sub-wholesalers that
Egypt’s Coatings Market on Recovery Path
