News From the UK Coatings Sector

The British Coatings Federation (BCF) has published the results of a member companies’ survey that probed for how the UK sector was performing post-Brexit, and what industry figures thought of the steps ahead in terms of cooperation and free trade agreements that the government had established for UK exports. Put summary-fashion, participation in the survey was broadly similar between manufacturers of decorative paints and printing inks and a little less than the participation of UK-based industrial and powder coatings companies. The major findings that emerged are reproduced below:
• Logistics remain the biggest issue for members: availability of haulers (69%), delays to shipments of raw materials coming into the UK (67%), and shipping costs (64%) are the most commonly cited ongoing problems due to Brexit.
• The share of respondents citing issues with customs paperwork (58%) has increased from last year (up from 48.3%).
• Almost a quarter of the BCF survey’s participants reported that EU suppliers no longer wanted to export to the UK, up from 19% last year.
• Brexit is costing UK companies more. Nearly one in six members recorded higher operating costs due to Brexit of more than 4%. Nearly a third (32%) said it had added more than 6%. For some the additional costs was of the order of 15%.
• Respondents this year reported that exporting to the EU is a smaller fraction of their business than had previously been the case. The number of firms reporting that less than 10% of their business was in exporting to the EU has more than doubled from 19% to 44%.
• Similarly, nearly 40% reported that exports to the EU had decreased, with most losing between 6-10% of exports over the last year or so, although some significantly more.
• Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that while they are still exporting to the EU and they planned to continue, it had become more difficult and costly.
• Conversely, not a single respondent not currently exporting to the rest of the world said they were looking to become exporters to non-EU countries after seeing the terms of the new free trade agreements that the UK government has been negotiating around the world.
• Looking ahead and thinking of their biggest worries over future competitiveness of their businesses, the top three issues cited were: additional trading costs due to customs paperwork (59%); the impact of future divergence of UK REACH from EU REACH (59%); and the impact UK REACH could have on raw material prices in the UK (61%).
• When asked what they saw as future opportunities likely to emerge from the new trading relationship, half simply replied they saw no opportunities resulting from the new UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA).

High-tech Developments Continue in the UK

We often hear in the UK, particularly around Brexit, of the importance of emphasizing UK industries’ expertise in high technology and the coatings sector is no exception.

Earlier this year, Applied Graphene Materials reported that England’s Environment Agency (EA) had completed its first application of AGM’s harsh environment anti-corrosion product to one of its flood defense assets on the North East coast of England. The coastal flood defence gates in Skinningrove, Redcar and Cleveland were coated with AGM’s new graphene-enhanced Genable CX-based anti-corrosion primer.

The coating system used in this project is a further iteration of AGM’s product offerings for barrier performance and anti-corrosion application.

It represented the culmination of 18 months of in-depth testing and evaluation of anti-corrosion performance, for both salt-spray and immersion in harsh test regimes.

The Genable CX primer is a high-performance hybrid system based on graphene and aluminum chemistries to offer anti-corrosion protection for harsh environments, such as offshore and marine applications.

This first customer application on a coastal facility represents a major milestone in customer exploitation of AGM’s graphene-enhanced coatings systems for corrosion protection in harsh coastal environments.

The coating of the EA’s asset is the first of several planned applications of the system.

More recently, and reflecting a growing trend within the coatings industry of targeting the green energy sector, AGM has joined UK-based business development organization NOF to encourage the adoption of graphene-enhanced materials across the global energy supply chain. At the forefront of the industry, NOF represents members of the energy supply chain engaged in all areas, from offshore energy to carbon capture and storage.

As a leading innovator in graphene dispersion and application technology, being part of this well-established association will help AGM to strengthen its position in the sector and maximize opportunities in growth markets such as hydrogen, CCS and energy transition.

Alongside the UK government’s push towards Net Zero and the positive developments across the Teesside region around sustainable energy, AGM’s membership will enable the wider sector to more easily benefit from the positive environmental impact of its graphene-based technology.

“As a supply chain partner of NOF, we’re looking forward to increasing AGM’s visibility in the energy sector and developing engagements within the hydrogen space in particular. It’s an extremely exciting time for graphene technology, and we would particularly encourage collaboration opportunities within offshore wind, EV battery and hydrogen technology applications that could benefit from lighter weight composite materials and sustainable graphene-enhanced anti-corrosion coatings,” said Adrian Potts, chief executive officer of AGM.

Meanwhile, HMG Paints, the UK’s largest independent paint and coatings company, has been advancing its formulations in the ACE area in response to demands from industry for higher-performance coatings.

The company’s new CFB 2K Primer, announced in July, can be used wet-on-wet and has been formulated to provide excellent sanding properties, adhesion and corrosion protection for steel substrates used throughout the agricultural and construction equipment (ACE) marketplace.

Alongside the primer, the system delivers a great finish for both OEMs and refinishes thanks to the excellent flow properties of CFB 2K Topcoat. CFB 2K Topcoat produces a high gloss finish with excellent gloss retention, and provides resistance to chemical and atmospheric attack, which is ideal for demanding environments.

Danny Cleary, HMG sales director, said of the new development, “The superior anti-corrosive properties and excellent durability of our new CFB System prevent corrosion in all conditions, creating extended time to first maintenance, which provides a huge benefit to customers who adopt the system.”

The CFB 2K System can be applied via compliant spray gun, pressure pot or airless/air-assisted and provides a host of economic and environmental benefits. As a high-solids product, CFB 2K significantly reduces VOC emissions during production and application. Additionally, the primer and topcoat utilize the same hardener and thinners reducing costs and stock holding for the applicator. These features allow users to gain significant benefits from this high-quality, cost-effective system.

The CFB 2K System will also utilize HMG’s new ColourBase Colour Box, which features 2400 color chips, displayed in chromatic order within 20 fan decks. The ColourBase Colour Box has cross references to a number of colors from the ACE industry and users can also chip up against a product to identify the perfect color.

Colors are produced using HMG’s innovative UNIT colorants, making CFB available in a wide variety of additional colors including popular RAL & British standard variations. HMG Paints maintain an unrivaled color library of more than 200,000 colors, all available from HMG or via local, independent distributors across the UK and Ireland who stock a number of products and offer color matching services.

Boasting more than 5000 custom color matches each year, HMG’s colour matching and colour development service produces a consistent result across a number of applications and systems.

The CFB 2K System is an ideal coatings solution for use on transport and haulage equipment, trailers, slurry tanks, site dumpers, earth moving equipment and other machinery and equipment. The CFB 2K system is available nationwide via HMG’s network of distributors who offer color matching services and fast delivery services.