PAINTS AND COATINGS

Abstract

FEW PEOPLE SIT AROUND watching paint dry, but enough people buy the stuff to make it a major market for the chemical industry. Polymers, emulsions, pigments, coalescents, and other paint ingredients are a showcase of the industry's invention and ingenuity. Paint material makers are consolidating, however, driven by the paint business' slow growth, complications wrought by growing environmental regulations, and difficulties in passing on increases in raw material and energy costs. In some cases, the consolidators are combining acquired technologies with inhouse skills to spur new growth. In other cases, raw material suppliers are adopting advances in areas other than paint as away to boost both paint material innovation and profits. In 2005, paint formulators worldwide sold $86 billion worth of architectural, product, and special-purpose coatings, according to a study of the market by Euromonitor International. The study, conducted for paint maker Akzo Nobel and published earlier this year, concludes ...