Africa
rail networks and increase port capacity,” said Weissenberg. The three major corridors are the 1000-kilometer
Abidjan-Ougadagou, the Kampala-Nairobi-Mombasa and the Greater
Ibadan-Lagos-Accra.
He said with only about 10,000 km of
road connecting countries across Africa
“it is estimated that 60,000 to 100, 000
kilometers of road will be required to
fully integrate the region.”
“Approximately $32 billion is re-
quired to develop Africa’s roads to suc-
cessfully integrate the road network,
which could see the increase of trade
by $250 billion over the next 15 years,”
said Weissenberg.
He also said Africa is expected to see a
$14.8 billion investment in the extension
and upgrading of rail networks, another
key consumer of paints and coatings, to
complement the Trans-Africa highway.
One of the largest projects in East Africa
is the $23 billion Lamu Port South Sudan
Ethiopian Transport (LAPSSET) corridor, which comprise Lamu port, 1710
kilometer railway line, 880 kilometer
highway, 2249 kilometer oil pipeline,
three resort cities and three airports.
In addition, Weissenberg said an estimated $3 billion is being invested in East
Africa’s Mombasa – Kisumu rail road to
support trade in the region while plans
are underway to implement the East
Africa Railway Master Plan which entails
construction of rail lines to link Tanzania,
Zambia, Mozambique, South Sudan,
Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The capacity of the region’s ports
will be expanded at an estimated $3.5
billion in the short term “to decrease
bottlenecks and support growth in
trade and industry.”
The growth of sub-Saharan’s big-
gest economies of Nigeria, South Africa,
Angola, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania,
Ghana and Democratic Republic of
Congo is also likely to shape the trends in
the paints and coatings industry.
In South Africa for example,
Weissenberg said there are growing opportunities in Gauteng province for
construction chemicals because of the
increasing demand for housing and commercial infrastructure.
The demand has outstripped supply in
previous years with Frost and Sullivan’s
analysis of the construction chemicals
market in the province indicating that
about 40 percent of the resinous flooring
segment and about 7 percent of the cementitious segment was imported in 2013.
“Infrastructure is the main requirement for concrete protection and concrete repair and rehabilitation products
in South Africa,” said Weissenberg.
The admixtures segment represented
36. 4 percent of the South Africa’s total construction chemicals market by
2013, according to Frost and Sullivan.
Waterproofing, flooring, repair and rehabilitation represented 23. 9 percent, 18. 9
percent and 12 percent of the country’s
total construction chemicals market share
while sealants and grouts’ share was 8. 8
percent during the same period.
An estimated 3. 6 million square meters of concrete surfaces needs protection
according to Weissnberg while nearly
18,000 tons of concrete repair and rehabilitation products are needed to meet the
market demand.
He said key drivers in South Africa’s
construction chemicals market include
increased demand for housing and
commercial infrastructure and mainte-
nance with building specifications by
contractors, which has raised demand
for green chemicals.
However, Weissenberg told participants the market also faces a few restraints such as the product of cost
competitive chemicals which constrains
manufacturing of high quality products,
impact of exchange rate fluctuations on
the importation of raw materials, importation of finished waterproofing chemical
products which slows down growth in
total construction chemical market and
finally the shortage of bitumen which
shows down the production of waterproofing chemicals.
He said although Kenya has a small-
er water proofing market compared to
South Africa, the East African country
has experienced “increased demand for
infrastructure and housing” which he
added “will be the main drivers of its con-
struction chemicals market.”
“Kenya’s adhesives market is grow-
ing faster than the gross domestic prod-
uct fueled by extensive private and
government spending in infrastructure,”
said Weissenberg.
The admixtures segment has the highest market share at 36. 3 percent. Other
segments include flooring 26.2 percent,
repair and rehabilitation 17. 5 percent,
sealants and grouts 12. 5 percent and
water proofing 7. 5 percent. Demand for
admixtures in Kenya is mainly driven by
“Africa’s urbanization rate (estimated
at more than 70 percent by 2025) and
infrastructure development, energy
demand and demand resource drain,
water and food scarcity, emerging African
economies and supply chain efficiencies
are the trends emerging in the region and
which are likely to greatly impact Africa’s
paint and coatings market.”
