by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodmanmedia.com
For coatings producers one of the big ben- efits of the sharp fall in oil prices in the second half of last year (2014) should be
a drop in raw material costs.
Some commentators are also predicting a
rise in demand due to the effect of lower oil
prices cutting the production and distribu-
tion costs of a wide range of industrial and
consumer products.
However, neither is likely to happen on a
significant scale in the short-term in Europe.
While oil prices have been plummeting suppliers of some coating raw materials have in fact
been announcing price increases.
At the same time, rather than boosting demand, the oil price drop has had the opposite
effect in Russia, which has been one of Europe
fastest growing coatings markets. Instead the
country which relies heavily on revenues from
oil and gas exports is expected to be stuck in a
recession this year (2015).
Nonetheless if oil prices stay at the current
How Do Low Oil Prices
Affect Raw Material Suppliers?
One of the
benefits of the
sharp fall in oil
prices in the
second half of
2014 should be
a drop in raw
material costs.
