This month’s feature article is on the Wood Coatings Market. Coatings World has covered this topic in great detail, analyzing the markets in North America, Europe and Africa. Worldwide, wood coatings has seen steady gains in the past few years – mainly driven by a robust housing market.

CHEMARK Consulting predicts a growth of approximately 3.1 percent over the next 15 years is expected for the aggregate of wood protective and preservatives from $3100 million in 2013 to $4900 million by 2028.

“Currently wood coatings represent 84 percent, while wood preservatives hold a 16 SOM, said Phil Phillips, president of CHEMARK Consulting. “By 2023, the shares will shift three percentage points to 81 percent for coatings and 19 percent for preservatives.”

Our European correspondent, Sean Milmo, reported that the short to medium outlook for wood coatings is looking bright in his column “Revival in Construction Leads to Bright Outlook for Wood Coatings” (November 2015). According to Milmo, this positive outlook for wood coatings in Europe is a result of a revival in the construction industry in the European Union and increased sales of wood products in segments in which previously the material has been little used.

“In the longer term the biggest driver in the sector is the widespread belief  that wood offers more opportunities than other materials for combating climate change,” he added.

Africa correspondent, Shem Oirere, took an in-depth look at this market with his column “Residential Property Market to Drive Africa’s Wood Coatings Growth” (July 2015). 

Consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and market analyst Future Market Insights (FMI), have in separate reports indicated how Africa is set to enjoy growth in the residential property market and how the increased production and supply of wood protection products will continue to be driven by the residential end-user market.

Accoring to PWC, an increasing urban population will create huge demand for residential property across Africa fuelling the rise in demand for wood protection products.

A global analysis by FMI on the wood coatings market said the growth of the residential property market will be the main driver of the wood protection products supply trends in the coming five years. FMI said “residential end-user is the largest market for wood protection, driven by maintenance demand for items such as fences, sidings and decks.”