InterviewGlobal coatings to grow at 3% - Bayer

01 October 2008 05:17  [Source: ICIS news]

By Chow Bee Lin

 

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Global demand for industrial coatings is estimated to grow by 3% a year from 2010 to 2015, with China, Japan and South Korea leading the way, a senior official of Bayer MaterialScience said on Wednesday.

 

“Overall, Asia-Pacific’s demand is estimated to grow at 4%, double that of Europe and the US, and China’s demand growth is estimated at 7%,” said John Eve, Asean and Australia and New Zealand representative for coatings, adhesives and specialties.

 

Key applications of industrial coatings include furniture, automotives, textile, footwear and food packaging.

 

The Asia-Pacific market was expected to shift away from solvent-based to waterborne coatings, due to various reasons that included the influence of regulations on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions coupled with a growing public awareness and demand for environmental protection and safer products, he said.

 

Waterborne coatings are more environmentally friendly as they emit less VOCs, compared with solvent-based systems, he said.

 

“These drivers will result in waterborne raw materials growing faster than conventional solvent borne raw materials for the coatings and adhesives markets,” Eve said.

 

“This will also result in waterborne technologies replacing the conventional technologies in some applications and we expect to see this trend continue despite the [current] difficult economic climate,” he added       .

 

The huge growth potential of waterborne coatings was also reflected by its low representation in the global markets, said Eve.

 

Bayer MaterialScience estimated that, based on external research data, solvent-based coatings currently account for 66% of the European market and 79% of the Asia-Pacific market, while waterborne products account for 22% and 8% of these markets respectively.

 

“Therefore, although the current economic situation is not as strong as it has been in recent times, the overall strategy to invest in the production of polyurethane dispersion (PUD) raw materials, and to support our customers change to more environmentally friendly raw materials is a very sustainable and responsible strategy,” said Eve.

 

Bayer MaterialScience had recently started up a plant in China to produce PUD, a waterborne raw material used in making industrial coatings.

 

But there may be hurdles in the shift from solvent-based to waterborne coatings in some applications.

 

These included a high initial capital investment for hardware such as mixing equipment and storage tanks made from stainless steels, and the relatively longer drying time of waterborne coatings, he said.

 

PUD is made from various feedstocks, including polyether, polyester polyols and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI).

 

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By: Chow Bee Lin
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