CHINACOAT2013 Closing Report
“The show was busier this year than last and we saw more
customers this year,” Li said.
Shenton King, director of marketing, business development, King Industries, and Dr. Michel Hourani, VP/general
manager, coatings additives division, said the show had a lot
of value for them.
“There is a marketing value to CHINACOAT but that is really a small part of it. For us we tried to bring something new
to the show. We are constantly developing new products to address market needs. It was a very busy show and so we tried
to meet with our partners and customers to present the latest
developments,” King said.
In terms of new trends, King and Hourani both agreed that
lower VOCs, chromate-free systems, waterborne technology,
environmentally friendly systems, and lowering energy cost are
important in the market.
“People are looking for good corrosion inhibitors to help
them with these new chromate-free systems, so we are introducing corrosion inhibitors that can help with that and also introducing new catalysts to work with the new anti-corrosive
pigments for this market,” Hourani said.
“Environmentally friendly catalysts are a trend world
wide. Formulators are replacing heavy metal catalysts in
polyurethane coatings including Chinese formulators,”
Hourani added. “So we have environmentally friendly cata-
lysts for these coatings based on zinc or bismuth and that is
being introduced at the show. Also, we are introducing new
catalysts to enable the formulator to reduce the cure tempera-
ture in melamine systems.”
Charles E. Hoover, Jr., chief operating officer, Hoover Color
Corporation, discussed CHINACOAT and the coatings market.
“One of the things I liked about this show, and I think this
show is really the best overall, because at this show you got
the technicians who came to learn about technology that is
available, so you were able to tell people about your product
and why they should use your product over something else,”
Hoover said.
Joon Choo, vice president, Shamrock Technologies, explained that CHINACOAT served as a meeting point for friends
and customers in the industry.
“The show was a gathering place where we saw a lot of
friends and customers in the industry and caught up,” Choo
said. “The message we sent is that we are continuing to be as
committed to the industry as we always have been, with new
products and new developments. After the crisis of a couple
of years ago where there was a shortage of materials, we’ve
recovered from that and things have stabilized. We’re ex-
panding our radiation capacities in Kentucky and we’re also
expanding our operations in China as well. We’re still riding
the growth of Asia so we’ve had a big year.”
Aaron Hollman, global products manager effect pigments,
Sun Chemical explained the benefits of CHINACOAT.
“CHINACOAT provided an excellent venue to connect
with the full gamut of global and domestic coatings producers,” Hollman said. “Sun Chemical and our parent company
DIC are uniquely positioned to offer a wide range of coatings solutions. No other supplier can match the breadth of
our product portfolio of organic pigments, effects and resins.
We have added a state-of-the-art technical service center in
China and continue to add local manufacturing assets in key
pigment chemistries.”
Asian Market
Hoover said that globalization of the coatings market has truly
impacted the industry worldwide.
“I think that what you’re seeing is the real impact of globalization on the coatings market, especially when you have OEM
pieces that are manufactured in one location, assembled in other
locations, and moved around the world,” Hoover said. “So we
are seeing a real impact in Asia from Europe. The European
consumers are down, and even though the U.S consumers are
up, it’s still been a tough year for sales in Asia.
“Whether we’re also seeing a lead-time development as
products are made around the world, the amount of time it
takes from producing a raw material to delivering to the final
consumer is actually longer than its been in maybe even a year,”
he said.
“I think we’re really seeing globalization becoming a major
influence on coatings industry.”
Li remained optimistic overall about Trust Chem in the market.
“Business in China is, depending on which coatings area,
slightly down. Industrial coatings are showing some increase,”
Li said. “Southeast Asia we see a lot of up and down. Mainly
Indonesia and India are down. Vietnam we see being up, it is
really a growing country. Economy worldwide is growing however we did not reach our budget. The year is not over so it is
just a rough estimate. Overall, I’m optimistic and positive about
the year.”
Fujima explained that KH Neo Chem opened a new office in
China, which assisted in growth.
“This year we established an office in Shanghai,” Fujima
said. “We have been growing and generally our customers have
been growing too. However growth has been slow and there is a
lot of expectation especially on the manufacturer side in China.”
Products and Services
CHINACOAT featured 1,019 exhibitors, including 198
new exhibitors.
Michelman exhibited a variety of Michem and Licomer
branded solutions at CHINACOAT. Among the offerings were
coatings and additives used to produce water repellency in decorative coatings; anti-block, slip and scratch resistance in can
and coil coatings; rub and mar resistance, along with a high
gloss finish in inks and overprint varnishes; adhesion promotion
in adhesives; gloss along with soft feel in leather polishes; and
gloss with scratch resistance in commercial and household floor
polish formulations.
Under its new brand, Celanese – The chemistry inside
innovation, the company is highlighting a wide variety of
products including vinyl acetate ethylene emulsions, acrylic
