CHINACOAT2017 was successfully completed. The show created a platform for people in the coatings and ink industries to learn from each other and to exchange ideas. The information they got from CHINACOAT2017 might provide directions for their business strategies in 2018.

Almost every business executive we interviewed mentioned water trend and environment regulations in China. Complaints were heard during our conversations with those companies who have manufacturing facilities here in China because their businesses are under strict environment supervision from local government and sometime their operations were interrupted in order to comply with administrative orders of local environment bureaus. But the stronger voice we heard from the show was about new products for waterborne and solvent-free formulas. 

Indulor, one of the world’s leading manufacturers for solid resins for the water-based inks and varnishes industries, has put into operation their new facility in America this year. Focusing on the graphic art market, Indulor provides global support to their customers worldwide, including China. Rik Guns, Global Accounts, Overseas Business Development, highlighted their global reach when interviewed with Coatings World. With a seasoned technical service and business team, many of whom have decades of working experience, Indulor can provide stable, high quality and global consistent support to their customers.

The use of Iron oxide as a pigment has a long history, so innovation is not always seen for this product category. But Cathay Industries presented two new innovations alone at CHINACOAT2017.

One of them is a new range of high performance red iron oxide pigments-CathayRed. Produced with Cathay’s proprietary wet precipitated process, CathayRed is specially designed for the paint and coatings industry and has many excellent properties such as easy to wet, high dispersibility and is chemically stable. And the other innovation introduced by Cathay Industries is CathayTherms series. Special properties for CathayTherms include excellent high temperature resistance, outstanding opacity and chemical resistance, etc.

Charles E. Hoover, President of Hoover Color Division as well as Senior VP for Coatings, said this new innovation will meet the powder trend in the market and is suitable to be applied on many materials such as plastic and rubber, etc. Cathay Industries has manufacturing facilities in China, America and Europe as well as South Africa, and is growing quickly in the world.

Recently, Arkema put into operation their new Kynar PVDF capacity in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, making Changshu the largest PVDF plant in Asia. Arkema also announced several major investment projects in Asia, including an investment of €300 million over five years on bio-based PA 11 products and another investment to expand Sartomer Nansha facility’s UV resin capacity by 30 percent.

“China and Asia are becoming the main business centers at present and in the future,” said Xavier Durand-Delacre, president of Arkema Greater China. “We’ll fully leverage our research centers and state-of-the art manufacturing facilities, keep pace with the latest trends of innovation and exert our industrial know-how to provide comprehensive, diversified and competitive innovative solutions for local coatings market.”

Some companies decide to expand their offering to new market segments

Breaking into new market segments is a longer process and needs more market efforts and investments, but in the long run, it could offer larger growth potential than just competing for more shares in existing markets.

Among many products introduced by Eastman Chemical, TetraShield protective resin system can be seen on many walls and posters on Eastman’s booth. With excellent weatherability, chemical resistance and hardness, TetraShield makes automotive coatings durable. Besides, TetraShield reduces environmental impact because it enables coatings to be formulated to higher solid level.

Eastman Chemical launched TetraShield AC1000 in 2016, and expanded this series with AC1001, PC4000, IC3000 and IC3020 in 2017.

Hoffmann Mineral is based in the  South of Germany. Founded in 1903, Hoffmann’s businesses are mining, refining and world-wide distribution of Neuburg Siliceous Earth (a natural combination of corpuscular silica and lamellar kaolinite).This mineral filler can be widely used for elastomers, adhesives, sealants, thermoplastics and coatings and inks.

Aktifit PF 111 is a Calcined Neuburg Siliceous Earth with a surface modified with a special alkyl silane. According to introduction, adding 1.5 percent Aktifit PF 111 to a white screen printing ink improves the printing quality of the fine structures and the ink transfer, especially at a type size of 4 pt, the sharp contour is significantly increased.

Following the global coatings market developing towards waterborne direction, Afcona introduced several new additive products this year, including 2505, 2507 and 2508, as well as 3588.

Afcona built their additive manufacturing plant in Nantong, Jiangsu province in 2008, and the company also has one additive blending facility respectively in Malaysia and Holland.  Afcona’s additive products have been mainly offered to the coatings and ink market through Afcona’s offices and distributors worldwide, and to keep growing their business quickly, the company’s new global strategy is to expand their offering into other fast growing market segments such as composites.

One of LANXESS’s highlights at this year’s exhibition is the launch of  the new generation of iron oxide red pigments on the market. After an intensive testing phase, the Inorganic Pigments (IPG) business unit has successfully concluded the market introduction of its so called New Red pigments, manufactured by the Ningbo process. In the mid-range color segment for reds, LANXESS offers the new pigments Bayferrox 520, Bayferrox 5272, Bayferrox 525 and Bayferrox 530. The new grades Bayferrox 510, Bayferrox TP 5278 and Bayferrox TP 5279 satisfy demand for more yellow-shade red pigments.

All of the new Bayferrox grades are produced at the site in Ningbo, China. The high-tech plant for manufacturing synthetic iron oxide pigments uses what has been dubbed the “Ningbo process.”

Based on patented technology, this uniquely sustainable manufacturing method meets the most stringent environmental standards and covers the entire color spectrum of iron oxide pigments in the mid and yellow-shade red color range. The new plant can synthesize 25,000 tons per year red iron oxide and it also has the capacity of mixing and milling 70,000 tons.

The stage for coatings players had been set even before CHINACOAT2017 opened on November 15th. HC360 Coatings’ two days coatings summit held in Pudong Holiday Inn Hotel attracted hundreds, if not thousands, of coatings experts. Architecture, wood and industrial coatings respectively had their own seminar, so people could choose the area which their business is related to.
And another scenario faced up by most coatings materials suppliers is that although sales is going up profitability is shrinking because of the rising up for the price of their raw materials.

As a world renowned coatings and ink additive supplier, Elementis introduced several new products into the market. Thixatrol P2100W, rheological additive, and Nuosperse FX 365, dispersant additive, targets water borne wood and industrial coatings systems. Thixatrol P2100W is also highly effective for aluminum automotive coatings.

Elementis also introduced Hypomer MT-2550K, alcohol soluble resin designed for varnishes and aluminum coatings as well as wood coatings, is specially suitable for coatings formulas for automotive interior decoration parts because of its excellent transparent properties and save of matting powder. From strategy perspective, Elements has strengthened their service globalization to increase efficiency, experience sharing and on-time delivery for service.