Automotive Refinish Market

Coatings World: What is the current state of the auto refinish market on a global level as well as in the NAFTA, Western & Eastern European and ROW (rest of world) markets?

Ralf Schueler, director marketing business unit, AkzoNobel Car Refinishes: The past 12 months has been one of the most difficult years we have ever faced in the car refinishes industry. But of course, it has been a year of crisis for the entire global economy, so it would be quite surprising if we had escaped the fallout from the worst economic recession in nearly eighty years. We do believe that conditions have stabilized, and after a steep decline in demand at the end of last year and the first quarter of 2009, we've seen some improvement as the year has progressed. The NAFTA market and Western Europe have been most seriously affected by the global slowdown. While growth in Eastern Europe and Asia slowed, that was a slowdown from a pretty impressive growth rate, and Asia especially, is coming out of the recession more rapidly than the more developed economies of Western Europe and North America. We firmly believe that