The 2024 Pigments Market

Included in this year’s round table discussion on pigments are Darren Bianchi , CEO, Brilliant Group; Carlos Hernandez, marketing manager, Coatings & Printing Systems Americas, Orion S.A.; Mark Ryan, marketing manager, and Chris Collesel, quality, product safety and sustainability manager, The Shepherd Color Company; and Falko Orlowski, executive vice president marketing and sales, Trust Chem USA.

CW: How did the pigment market fare in the paint and coatings segment during 2023?

Brilliant Group: We have heard through our distribution network and from customers at trade shows, etc., that companies are down 10%-30% or more. Fortunately, at Brilliant, we have seen double digit growth over 2022.

Shepherd Color: We saw a stabilization and customers starting to plan for growth in the future. 2023 started off slowly and while people kept expecting increased sales during the year, business didn’t show improvements until the fourth quarter of 2023.

Trust Chem: The first half was stable with small growth but the second half showed declining demand.


CW: Has the raw material market stabilized for the most part during the past year, and what ingredients are causing the most concern for you?

Brilliant Group: Broadly speaking, much of the raw material market has stabilized in supply/availability. There are still some specialty raw materials used in fluorescent and phosphorescent pigments where the cost increases have remained persistent.

Shepherd Color: Supply chains are back functioning with most raw materials being readily available. Commodities are off their highs on uncertain demand but will probably firm up as industrial activity increases over 2024.

Trust Chem: Yes, raw materials have stabilized and prices are on the downward trend.

CW: Which region is offering the strongest growth opportunities for you?


Brilliant Group: We are seeing similar growth opportunities around the world, with North America being among
the strongest.

Orion: Orion is doing well in coatings across most global regions. Certain regions have advantages for us. For example, the US is one of the world leaders in aerospace manufacturing, which will increase the opportunities for our markets. In Asia, there is substantial automotive production in Japan and South Korea, while India is home to the largest paint and coatings industry in south Asia. In Latin America, manufacturers of different automotive brands maintain a strong presence in Mexico and Brazil.

Shepherd Color: The Americas have shown the biggest rebound off of the post-COVID slowdowns.

Trust Chem: For us, all three major regions – North America, Asia and Europe – are similar in growth.


CW: Along those lines, what paint and coatings markets are seeing the strongest growth?

Brilliant Group: We continue to see strong demand in the UV-curable market.

Orion: Based on our results, we see very healthy growth in the industrial, OEM, refinish and powder coatings markets.

Trust Chem: Due to some changes in the marketplace with pigment manufacturers, we see the strongest growth in industrial and powder coatings.


CW: What are your customers prioritizing during discussions with you?

Brilliant Group: As supply chain concerns dissipate and customers are moving back to leaner inventories, they are regularly looking for us to have stock on hand, shipping quickly, etc. With their lab resources also remaining tight, they are regularly outsourcing technical work to us.

Orion: Our small and medium customers are prioritizing performance properties such as jetness and dispersion. Our larger customers are focusing more on sustainability. Some customers have a very strong ambition to reach net zero emissions or to lower their CO2 emissions by large amounts by 2035. At Orion we have announced our ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To that end, we have taken big steps and a different approach to developing products. Our sustainable product development focuses on using pyrolysis oils or renewable oils.

Shepherd Color: After the issues with getting materials during the past few years, customers are looking for robust supply chains. While that can mean looking locally and at multiple sources, we see a desire for customers to work with more reliable suppliers. Shepherd Color’s focus on high performance inorganic pigments along with our global logistics support make us a logical choice for these critical raw materials.

Trust Chem: New products, raw material situation and pricing are the common discussions.


CW: Do sustainability concerns come up in your conversations with customers, and how are you helping your customers meet their goals?

Brilliant Group: Much of the sustainability interest is driven at the end-user level and our customers are doing all that they can to stay abreast. We are supporting them with pigments which comply with their main specification and regulatory requirements, including non-formaldehyde chemistry.

Orion: As mentioned in my previous answer, our larger customers are focusing on sustainability. They are concerned with lowering CO2 emissions and achieving net zero emissions of greenhouse gases. We help our customers by supplying products that best meet their color and performance requirements, and by using technologies that allow them to reach their sustainability goals.

Shepherd Color: Shepherd Color has long shared our customers’ concerns and commitment to sustainability factors, well before the subject became part of today’s lexicon. We’ve always taken our commitment to this effort very seriously and we enter 2024 with renewed energy and leadership to learn more and to do more to help.

Trust Chem: Sustainability discussions in the US are not as common as what we have in Europe. Most new regulations are driven from the European market. We do offer our products in line with all global regulations.


CW: What are some of the latest technologies that your company has introduced?

Brilliant Group: Some of our latest technologies include new, high strength, 100% UV reactive fluorescent materials.

Orion: We have developed products with circular solutions using recycled materials. We developed a proof-of-concept product based on pyrolysis oil and designed for high jetness applications. We also have two new circular products based on pyrolysis oil for tinting systems. We tested these side by side with products using current feedstock and we obtained very good results.

Shepherd Color: Shepherd Color over the past decade has brought to market brand new pigment chemistries like the YInMn Blue and the NTP Yellow, but we also continue to innovate on known and already registered chemistries.

Our R&D department has taken the well-known cobalt blue (CI Pigment Blue 28) and come up with a super Blue 10G599 that has higher red and blue values for the highest chromaticity values we have seen in the color space.

Because it is an established pigment chemistry, it can be used all around the world and has extensive regulatory approvals. It also has the inherent stability that the cobalt blues are known for, making it perfect for high-performance coatings in coil and extrusion, powder, and automotive.

Trust Chem: No new technologies, but with the opening of our new pigment plant in China (with 10,000 tons of Azo and 3,000 tons of Intermediate capacity), we offer new and improved products for the plastic and coatings market. CW