Coatings World - MAY 2017

Russia

climate. He explains that these products could not be transported in the common trucks at low temperatures for obvious reasons. In general, logistics spends hamper the possible development of export suppliers and the attempts of domestic plants to enter some foreign markets as the result so far failed.

Petrov explained that in his opinion there are very few companies in Russia now that actually can compete at the foreign markets with international companies in terms of price/quality ratio. He noted that the large markets of Europe or China already have quite strong producers of water-dispersible paints, so there is no room left here for Russian manufacturers. At the same time, some potential could be observed in Central Asia, but the local market is small and can not provide high demand for Russian products.

Industry reorganization is
required

At the same time Kislova indicated that the strong growth in demand for water-dispersible paints in fact is not possible without re-organization of production facilities. In particular, she said, to protect equipment against corrosion the plant must replace details that come into contact with water to the elements made of stainless still or plastic. This certainly will require additional investments and not every entity is ready to bring it in amid harsh market conjuncture.

Kislova also pointed out the con-
siderable prejudice against the use
water-dispersible paints among Russian
industrial consumers. She explained
that these customers are accustomed to
the use of organodiluted coatings, have
strong ties with suppliers of these prod-
ucts and well-established technological
process of painting. They also have the
urgent need to minimize the cost of the
used raw materials. All in all, due to the
presence of these factors experts do not
forecast the real strong rise in demand for
water-dispersible paints in Russia in com-
ing years.

In addition, there are some natural factors hampering the growth for water-dispersible paints, Kislova said. She specified that the cold season occupied most times of the year in Russia and this is the reason why most industrial customers are using organodiluted coatings. This concerns not only the use, but also the transportation of paints. Spends on logistics of water-dispersible paints in winter time become much higher, putting the additional financial burden on the customers.

Finally, Kislova admits that Russian water-dispersible paints basically still have poor quality and this is partly associated with the poor quality of the used materials. On the one hand, the low purchasing power of the population forces manufacturers to produce coatings in the first place in the economy segment and the quality of these products leaves a lot to be desired. On the other hand, the price of imported materials is high, while quality of Russian materials is low,

so there is not a lot of place for maneuver for the market participants.

No real alternative for
water-dispersible paints

The forecast of Centrlak in general has quite an optimistic nature, as Kislova pointed out that the stable growth in the industry was only delayed with the recent economy crisis. In the middle- and long-term prospects Russia’s government eyes enhancing of the country’s ecology legislation and the industrial producers are evolving the advantages of this type of coatings. All in all, this makes further growth of demand inevitable, so the situation at the Russian coating market in the future most likely will become in line with the global picture and the share of water-dispersible paints will significantly grow compared to the current rates.

Already now Centrlak observes the growing interest in water-dispersible paints from the cannery industry, automotive and auto repair industry. This type of coatings already occupies huge share in the segment of industrial floor coatings, furniture industry and metal industry. In this areas the projected rise of the production performance should also spur the demand for water-dispersible paints within the coming few years. Obviously, the optimistic scenario has all chances to come true if there are no new shocks to the Russian economy, as the continuing geopolitical tensions now add some uncertainty to all forecasts. CW Russia has a huge range of paint and coatings.