Industrial Coatings Market
fragile,” said de Vries. “There is some uncertainty too. There
are so many important global events in 2017 important events
which could have a considerable impact; such as elections in
some key European countries as well the agenda of the newly
elected Trump administration. Also, the submission of a Brexit
will have its impact in Europe. Overall, demand for coatings
solutions continues to be strong given the importance it plays in
asset protection and safety. This means investing in maintenance
and upkeep to drive operational efficiency.”
“The global industrial coatings market continues to grow,”
said Calabra. “Certain regions are soft, but North America,
APAC and Europe are still providing opportunity.”
“Over the past year, we have seen low-to-mid-single digit
growth rates in the Industrial markets in which we participate,”
“Looking at some of the biggest segments
of protective coatings; infrastructure, oil
and gas and power generation, performance
has been mixed this past year,” said Moeller.
“There has been stable growth in infrastruc-
ture globally, however in the Middle East
economic growth has stagnated due to the
low oil price and this has meant less invest-
ment in infrastructure. Unsurprisingly there
has been slower growth in China due to
the country’s slower economic growth. The
oil and gas segment continues to be in a
prolonged depression, especially in the up-
stream sector. There have however been recent positive signs
of better times in onshore upstream. Finally, the power genera-
tion segment continues to grow in Asia, with slower growth in
China, and this is the same for all the sub-sectors under power
generation.”
Industrial coatings are used for a wide variety of applications
from construction to OEM equipment. As such growth varies
widely from segment to segment.
“We anticipate cyclical inflection points in key segments over
the coming years, shifting the outlook of growth opportunities
across the industry,” said Bausch. “After a period of economic
challenges, the agricultural and petroleum-related sectors are
showing signs of recovery. In these segments, as well as others,
we expect regional manufacturers in developing economies to
make significant progress with their plans for global expansion.”
“Automotive builds may begin to slow from recent peaks,
but there will be regional opportunities as OEMs and their value
chain partners continue to shift volume across their global foot-
print,” Bausch added. We also see opportunities for coatings to
be a significant enabler for auto industry transformations in the
years ahead in areas such as battery power, autonomous control,
user interfaces, and interior design. Construction and infrastruc-
ture spend are likely to have modest growth potential in the
near-term, while the electronic materials segment continues its
high growth trajectory. In addition to the continued transfor-
mation of our lives into “smart living” where applications for
electronics and displays are accelerating, Auto OEMs will count
on functional coatings to deliver an innovative customer experi-
ence in future vehicles.”
Investments in renewable energy – particularly wind power –
is a key driver for the industrial coatings market. de Vries noted
that this mainly driven by the green agenda of many European
governments to meet their set target after the Paris conference.
“Governments have been relatively slow with investment in in-
frastructure,” he added. “The last quarter we have seen signs
of improving conditions in some countries where demand of
capital goods has started to pick up.”
“In regard to industrial coatings, the general finishes segment
is still one of the largest markets due to the large variety of sub-
segments that fall into this category, and it has offered strong
growth over the years,” said Calabra.
One of the fastest growing segments, in which Axalta’s
Energy Solutions products like Voltatex thrive, is comprised of
industrial coatings that are used to insulate and enhance functionality in electrical motors. Protective coatings supplied to the
commercial architectural and building construction markets
make up another rapidly growing segment for Axalta.
“We are one of few global companies that can offer liquid
and powder coatings to enable architects a choice of technology for aluminum extrusions,” said Cash. “As a response to
the desire for bright metallic options, we recently launched our
Alesta ICONICA powder coatings collection, a selection of 40
new colors designed by trend experts and developed in Alesta
Sherwin-Williams
