Market Updates - March 2023
Paints, Coatings, and Adhesives are part of everyday life. Look around your home, your car, items in your garage. Paint and coatings are everywhere.
The performance demand of a coating is always changing based on application needs, service requirements, and increasing efforts to be environmentally and user friendly, and most importantly meeting sustainable requirements.
Waterborne coatings are one example of a compliant technology that has come a long way in the past 40 years. As a result, the global waterborne coatings market was nearly $100B USD in 2022 and is forecast to grow to $140B by 2030.
Many of us know the architectural paint market is a very large part of the waterborne coatings market. However, waterborne epoxies are expected to be the largest volume growth segment during the forecast period.
As a former epoxy coating chemist in the late 80’s, the technology was predominantly based on 2K solvent born Bis A and Bis F epoxy chemistry. No doubt, these coatings are robust, highly chemical and corrosion resistant, and provide incredible mechanical properties. However, they can be challenging to apply and even more challenging to clean up after application. I looked at waterborne epoxies at the time and no way would they be able to replace the "old school" 2K amine cured epoxy. However, a lot has improved in waterborne epoxy systems over the years.
Today the advancement in waterborne epoxy and curative chemistry have erased many of those earlier concerns surrounding waterborne epoxy coatings. New technology has significantly improved cure, service times, adhesion, corrosion prevention, and chemical resistance. While there are still extreme conditions where that 2K conventional solids epoxy system is the best choice, there are many applications where a waterborne epoxy coating can get the job done.
By using a waterborne epoxy coating, you also get the added and important benefit of safety improvement. Reduction or elimination of volatile solvents makes these products safer to store, produce, and apply; and everybody in our business puts Safety as a number 1 priority. Finally when working with 2K waterborne epoxy coatings, you may see improvements in total applied cost as the cost of raw materials tied to petrochemicals can be volatile versus water, time to clean up and wear and tear on your application equipment can be improved, and less cost impact associated with the required proper storage and handling of flammable solvents.
Consider looking at a 2K Waterborne epoxy system in your next coating development project.
Market Updates - February 2023
Adhesives and Sealants Markets
• There are many different types of adhesives and sealants in use today. Advancement in adhesive types has partially been driven by continued light weighting programs in automobiles and transportation as traditional fastening methods are being replaced with high-performing, lighter adhesives and sealant technology.
• While the adhesives market experienced a slight dip during 2019 due to the impact of Covid and the temporary stall of manufactured goods and transportation, a revised global outlook for adhesives and sealants has valued this market at nearly $64B USD in 2021 and some expect this will grow at nearly a 6% CAGR the next several years.
• Part of what will drive this growth is the change in materials being used in manufacturing and construction and continued light weighting programs in transportation. Demand for hot melt type adhesives will grow in automotive as they have found their way into dashboards, due to improvements in vibration reduction and sound insulations.
• In addition to manufacturing, transportation, and construction, strong demand for packaging products used in the food and beverage industry; growth of discount retailers; and the increasing trend for grocery retailers will have positive long-term impacts packaging adhesives.
• Like coatings, bio-based technology, low and zero VOC demand, ease of application, and speed to service will drive technology development in the adhesives and sealant market.
Market Updates - January 2023
Housing Market
Positive Impact on Architectural Paints and other Restorative Products
• Softening of mortgage rates are expected to help re-energize buyers who took a step back in Q4 22. However even with rate softening, supply of housing is limited, and housing prices are still hovering near record levels in some markets. None-the-less sellers will continue to invest in home improvements as there is expected to be more competition and concessions needed to sell a home in 2023. This may have a positive effect on DIY products as sellers will continue to make improvements such as painting to increase their homes appeal to a buyer; the days of ‘as is’ and ‘no inspection’ may be in the past. DIY may also benefit from current homeowners who purchased and financed during record low mortgage rates as many are planning to stay put. Protective Coating Market
Strong Demand Expected as Infrastructure Investment Continues
• Civil building and infrastructure are the largest drivers for protective coatings. Despite the challenges of residential construction, commercial construction continues to rise. In Q4 22, there was still a sustainable level of projects with nearly 9 months of backlog, which is two times the prior year backlog. It is likely the $1 Trillion USD Infrastructure Bill is contributing to this growth trend as this program will distribute funds for projects in bridge and highway, public transit, water and waste treatment, rail and airport upgrades and repairs. These programs will have a demand for low VOC, Eco-Friendly, protective coatings. Eco-Friendly Technology
Continued demand for eco-friendly coating systems
• The continued demand for eco-friendly coating systems will have a positive impact on water-based and bio-based resins, new resin development in Powder coatings, eco-friendly biocides, and expand the importance and role of additives in coatings formulations. It is expected rheology modifiers will largely benefit from this trend with a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period. Rheology modifiers can provide application and processing improvements to accommodate changes in binder chemistry and application techniques.
Market Updates - December 2022
Auto Industry
• The auto industry is starting to recover from labor and part shortages, but sales are still below pre-pandemic levels. Inflation, new car prices, and continued lack of chips are still problematic but to a lesser extent. There is a lot of activity with the auto industry, both OE and Tier suppliers, investing in the EV trend. Companies working on EV programs have picked up interest in technologies to achieve weight reduction, adhesion, and UV stability.
• Vehicle Refinish sales are strong, largely driven by a repair versus replacement cost mentality as new car prices remain inflated. Refinish coatings rely on quality solution polymer and waterborne resins, flow and leveling additives, adhesion promoters for both metal and plastic, corrosion protection, and UV stability to produce excellent finishes that makes used cars look new again. Interior refurbishment is also a growing trend with emulsions and additives applied to chemical wipes or unique easy to use application tools in restoring interior and exterior plastics to nearly new conditions.
• Recreational vehicles continue to be the hardest hit segment as inflation has curbed spending on luxury items. However, there is strong sentiment with some investment firms that luxury buyers will resurface mid-year 2023. RV applications use special effect pigments for branding and distinctness, additives for UV stability to protect those attractive coatings, flexible binders and additives to endure some of the rough quality needed in ORV’s, and adhesion promoters and rheology control additives to accommodate different substrates and shapes.