The Asia-Pacific Paint and Coatings Market

The economic downturn of the past several years has had a significant impact on the global paint and coatings market. From 2002 to 2007, the global coatings market grew by over 30 percent. This is in stark contrast to the 2008-2009 timeframe, where the market actually contracted by nearly three percent.

One of the bright spots in the market has been the Asia-Pacific region which has dramatically outperformed the global market in terms of both volume and value growth. From 2004 to 2009, the Asia-Pacific coatings segment grew by 60 percent in volume and value. Due to its rapid growth over the past five years, the Asia-Pacific region has become the largest market for paint and coatings in the world.

The market in Asia-Pacific is now estimated to represent approximately 35 percent of the nearly $90 billion global value of all coatings. In terms of market volume, the Asia-Pacific region makes up roughly 41 percent of the 27 billion liter global coatings volume. (Note that for comparison purposes, powder coatings have been converted to liquid equivalents at the rate of 1.5 liters of liquid paint per kilogram of powder coatings.)

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