by Shem Oirere
Africa Correspondent
Delegates and exhibitors at the 9th North African Coatings Congress held October 12-13
in Casablanca, Morocco, described the
event as a great opportunity for coatings
manufacturers, industry decision makers
and product consumers to network and
get a better glimpse of the region’s coatings market and how best to tap into the
existing business growth prospects.
“The delegates were able to meet friends,
do business and obtain inspirational ideas
by attending the conference and visiting the
exhibition - all under one roof,” said Kez
Chen, group sales director for dmg’s The
Coatings Group, the organizer of the event.
And the picking of Morocco as the host
of the North African Coatings Congress
was deliberate Chen said while quoting the world famous Moroccan writer
Tahar Ben Jelloun who once asserted: “In
Morocco, it’s possible to see the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean at the same time.”
“With the world’s major economies
growing at a conservative pace, emerging markets, such as Morocco and its
surrounding economic belt, is becoming the new propeller of the region and
as the sixth largest economy in Africa,
Morocco achieved a remarkable 4. 5 percent growth in GDP in 2015,” said Chen.
He said Morocco’s mining, construc-
tion and manufacturing sector, “which is
heavily related to the coatings industry,
account for 25 percent of its gross domes-
tic product.”
Companies exhibiting at the Congress
expressed hope of possible business or-
ders after the event that also saw experts
give 11 presentations on the science be-
hind the manufacturer of coatings.
“We have attended the last five NACC
events and it has been great,” said Timir
Shah, senior manager International
Marketing at the Indian Chemical
Industries. The India-based company is
one of the leading manufacturers of pig-
ments and dyestuffs with a distribution
network in the U.S., Germany, Canada,
Eastern Europe, Middle East, North
East Africa, South Africa, Japan and
Mauritius. Shah said the company cur-
rently focuses on the global supply of
premium quality dyes and intermediates
to the paper, plastic, rubber, paint, textile
and automobile industries.
“The North African Coatings Congress
has been more of an eye opener for our
company which has previously focused on
the Algerian market,” said Luca Bertone,
technical sales manager at Dromont, a
global producer of factory systems and in-
dustrial applications with multiple clients
spread across the paint, ink, textile, ceram-
ic, cosmetic and specialty chemical indus-
tries especially for the Europe, America,
China and Far East Asia markets.
“We hope to create more partnerships
with new clients during and after this
Congress,” he said.
“I think the North African Coatings
Congress is a good opportunity for all us
in the coatings industry,” said Christian
Getzmann, managing director VMA-
GETZMANN GmbH, a German-based
manufacturer of dispersion systems.
“I expect to make contacts during this
event and probably get to tell potential
customers about our dispersion systems
although it may take a while before such
contacts strike a deal with us,” he said.
Christian said the Congress was a
good forum for his company to demon-
strate “how through the use of the ma-
chine we can have less pigments in paint
production and therefore less filler use
making it affordable for our customers.”
He also took visitors to the VMA-
GETZMANN stand through the compa-
ny’s innovative dispersion and fine grinding
systems for laboratory and pilot plant, the
DISPERMAT dissolver, vacuum dissolv-
er, bead mills, basket mills, homogenizer
and stirrer currently manufactured at the
Germany factory for the global market.
North African Coatings Congress
Opens Region’s Market Wider
