U.S. paint and coatings market: green and sustainable coatings lead
Coating consumption in 2015 was 5.8 billion liters containing 3.8 million tons of solids with a sales value of USD 26.6 billion. Growth is placed at a mature 1% annual rate which about matches the long term historical trend.
Led by the strong recovery in the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) segment the coating industry has grown modestly the last several years. Coating volume in solids (dry weight) is still off some 10% from the peak in 2007 but dollar value is up by 10%. Coating consumption in 2015 was 5.8 billion liters containing 3.8 million tons of solids with a sales value of $26.6 billion. Growth is placed at a mature 1% annual rate which about matches the long term historical trend. These and other findings are contained in Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney's recently published report “The U. S. Paint & Coatings Industry, 2015-2020”.
Increasing demand for green and sustainable coatings
Federal, state, local, and sometimes even international regulations continue to impact coating formulation, transportation, storage, disposal, application, worker usage, abatement technology, etc. Increasingly, consumer demands for green and sustainable coatings are impacting coating developments. The coating industry continues to move to more environmentally friendly products. Water-based technology has gained share in the last twenty years rising from 47% of the dry weight in 1996 to a 57% share in 2015. The water-based share of architectural paints has risen from 76% in 1996 to 83% in 2015; OEM’s share has increased from 23% to 30%; and special purpose coatings from 22% to 44%. In the OEM segment powder technology has grown from 14% of the dry weight in 1996 to 22% in 2015. Radiation-cured technology remains a small percentage of the OEM volume but it has grown from 3% of the tons to 5%.
Water-based resins: small percentage of the volume but a higher percentage of the value
Alkyds remain the largest volume solvent-based coating in volume with 27% of the solids in 2015. They continue to lose share in solvent-based technology but new technology has increased alkyd activity in water-based formulations. Polyurethanes and epoxies each capture 9-10% of the solvent-based dry weight with polyurethanes the leader in dollars with a 21% share and epoxies behind at 10%. Acrylics comprised 7% of the solvent-based weight but their share of dollars is 19%. In water-based technology acrylic and vinyl-acrylic based products predominate and combined for three-quarters of the dry weight and two-thirds of the value. Water-based alkyds, epoxies and polyurethanes are a small percentage of the volume but a higher percentage of the value.
