Protective coatings: Movement in the game
As the global economy was affected by the pandemic, there were significant changes in the corrosion protection coatings market. Based on their research, IRL’s market researchers estimate the global market for anti-corrosion coatings to be around 7.8 million tonnes in 2020, a slight increase over 2019.
IRL completed its annual protective coatings reports programme in August 2021. With the global economy affected by the pandemic, there were substantial changes in the protective coatings market. They estimated the global protective coatings market at around 7.8 million metric tonnes in 2020, increasing slightly from 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic caused strong declines in the protective coatings market for most regions with the exception of Asia-Pacific which was estimated to have grown by 3.2%. China, which accounts for the majority of the protective coatings market managed to grow in 2020, positively influencing the overall market. Nonetheless, IRL estimated that sales in the Middle East and Africa declined by -7.0%, in Europe sales declined by -7.1% and in the Americas sales declined by -8.9% with the overall market growing in volume by 1.5%. The market value however experienced a decline despite the sales volume growth.
The global protective coatings market is dominated by sales in the Asia-Pacific, with this region accounting for almost 86% of global sales of protective coatings. The rapid growth of the Chinese construction industry in the last few decades has been a result of the large investments into infrastructure construction which fuels demand for protective coatings in Asia, with the civil engineering sector the leading end use for coatings. In terms of the countries that make up for most of the demand in the region China once again enjoyed an increase in sales in 2020 whereas the other countries in the region that generate most of the demand such as India, Japan and Indonesia experienced a strong decline as the restrictions put in place to suppress the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the market.
Sales originating from Western Europe have the largest share in the European protective coatings industry, and account for almost half of the total sales in the continent. The leading country markets include Germany, followed by Russia and the United Kingdom.
