IRL has launched a new edition of its
single country report “A Profile of the
Chinese Paint Industry.” In this study,
IRL examines China’s paints and coatings
market independently and not as part of
a regional study on the Asia Pacific paint
market, thereby enabling to present more
in-depth information on paint market
influences and trends. This fully updated
seventh edition provides market data for
2013 and forecasts for 2018.
The total consumption of paints and
coatings in China reached 13.1 million
tons in 2013, and is forecast to rise to
nearly 17. 9 million tons by 2018. This is
equivalent to an average annual growth
rate of 6. 5 percent, which is somewhat
lower than historical trends in China but
is still impressive compared with the more
mature markets such as the EU, U.S. and
Japan. This growth forecast takes into
account predicted Chinese GDP growth,
the development of the iron and steel industry and its related sectors, growth in
downstream industries (such as construction, automotive, petrochemical and machinery) and current per capita coatings
consumption, which remains low.
After four years of rapid growth, the
Chinese paints market started to slow
down in 2013 due to the unfavorable
global economic situation and deceleration of certain downstream industries.
However, demand for coatings in the
construction, automotive, appliances and
infrastructure sectors continued to grow.
Therefore, the total paints market grew
fairly moderately in 2013.
Architecture is the largest end-use
sector in China and continued to grow
quickly in 2013 due to an increase in the
construction of low-cost housing, com-
mercial housing and infrastructure. The
protective coatings market is the second-
largest sector in China due to the rapid
development of construction, transporta-
tion, petrochemical, energy and machin-
ery projects. Nuclear power and wind
power infrastructure, high-speed rail,
roads, bridges, containers and off-shore
engineering applications continued to
drive growth in the protective coatings
market in 2013.
The wood coatings market was af-
fected by the stagnation of exports, but
stimulated by domestic demand for solid
wood furniture. The powder coatings
market remained in steady growth due to
strong demand from appliance manufac-
turers and the construction industry. The
automotive coatings market continued to
be boosted by growth of car production
and an increase in car ownership, despite
government controls on traffic flow in
major cities. The plastic coatings market
was possibly the fastest growing segment
in 2013, due to recovery of the demand
from appliance, mobile phone and com-
puter applications.
The marine coatings segment was the
worst performing in 2013, mainly due
to deterioration of the global marine in-
dustry and competition from other Asian
countries for shipbuilding and repair.
Other segments such as coil coatings,
road marking coatings, can coatings and
aerospace coatings, achieved reasonable
growth in 2013.
The per capita consumption of coat-
ings was only 9.6kg, and the consump-
tion of architectural coatings was only
3.6kg per head in 2013; these figures
are much lower than the global average
and the average consumption in Western
countries. This indicates a large, as yet
untapped potential in the Chinese coat-
ings market to be exploited in the future.
Nevertheless, the Chinese market is
expected to grow more rationally after
a decade of fast growth. The industry
will continue to consolidate, and the
market will become more integrated be-
tween manufacturers, distributors and
service providers. The overall industry
is facing further challenges, in terms of
capital, strategic transformation, in-
creasing demand for quality products
and services, growth of environmental
and safety issues, and a dynamic busi-
ness environment.
“A Profile of the Chinese Paint
Industry” gives an insight into the mar-
ket changes in the past few years, as well
as outlining the key trends affecting nine
mainstream paints and coatings seg-
ments: architectural/decorative, industrial
wood coatings, protective coatings, ma-
rine coatings, automotive OEM coatings,
automotive refinishes, powder coatings,
general industrial coatings (including coil
coatings) and plastic coatings. Forecasts
on these are presented for the year 2018
alongside market data for 2013. The cost
IRL Publishes a Profile of
the Chinese Paint Industry
