Chinese anti-corrosive market set to improve

GCiS China Strategic Research estimates that the domestic market for anticorrosion coatings in China was worth More than CNY36bn in 2013, with sales of roughly 1.4Mt. The study finds that growth in 2013 was only 2.8%, far below the rapid, often double-digit growth seen in the previous few years. This was due in large part to the slow growth of key downstream industries, especially in the shipbuilding sector, which saw a strong decline in 2012 and 2013.
Domestic suppliers are mostly small manufacturers that are regionally active and benefit from long standing customer relations.
The market leaders are a handful of foreign suppliers – AkzoNobel, Jotun, PPG, Hempel – that generate far more revenue than even their largest domestic competitors. Domestic suppliers are improving on technology and product quality but for the moment the target market still offers better opportunities to suppliers of high-quality coatings.
The report features in-depth analysis of seven key anticorrosion coating product segments, epoxy, polyurethane, rich zinc primer, alkyd, fluorocarbon, acrylic and chlorinated rubber. It finds that the market is gradually shifting towards higher quality epoxy and polyurethane coatings. Shipbuilding and construction remain as the two largest end-user industries, followed by containers and the petrochemical and chemical industries.
GCiS research shows that supplier confidence is high, mainly because of an expected recovery in demand from the shipbuilding sector. GCiS expects growth of the market will significantly improve starting from 2014.
This GCiS market study draws on a three month in-depth primary survey of 100 of the market’s suppliers, channel players and experts.