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Boom Seen for Nanocoatings, Emulsion Polymers

Friday, November 5, 2010

The global market in nanostructured coatings will triple in the next five years, while unceasing demand for water-based coatings products will drive strong growth in the emulsion polymers market, according to two new forecasts.

Taken together, the forecasts paint an extremely positive picture of the global coatings market in every sector and every region over the next several years.

Nanocoating Explosion

The global market for nanostructured coatings—worth about $1.1 billion in 2009—should reach $3.5 billion by 2015, according to a new report by Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com).

The main markets for these coatings will be exterior protection (mainly in anti-weathering coatings), military and defense (anti-corrosion coatings for military vehicles and protective textiles for soldiers), construction and automotive (anti-corrosion, thermal barrier and hydrophobic coatings), and household cleaning products (anti-microbial coatings and pre-coats), the report says.

“The market for nanostructured coatings will grow across all sectors over the next 5-10 years,” according to the forecast. Gains will come not only from growth in the end-user markets but also from “the vast improvements nanostructured coatings offer, from both a protective and destructive perspective.”

The report breaks out coating types (anti-fingerprint, anti-bacterial/microbial, anti-scratch/wear-resistant, anti-fouling and easy-clean, bionic and photocatalytic self-cleaning, UV resistant and thermal barrier) and production methods; analyzes key end user markets; and profiles more than 185 companies.

Emulsion Polymers Growth

World demand for emulsion polymers is forecast to rise 5.2% per year to 12.8 million metric tons in 2014, according to World Emulsion Polymers, a new study from The Freedonia Group Inc. (www.freedoniagroup.com), a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.

Growth is expected in every region, even in the battered North American market, which will reverse a nearly 3% annual decline during the 2004-2009 period.

Gains will be driven by rising global demand for latex polymers used in the production of water-based paints, coatings and adhesives, Freedonia reports. 

In the developed world, increasingly stringent environmental regulations concerning VOC emissions will continue to drive demand for emulsions in waterborne paints and coatings.

The Asia/Pacific region has become, and will likely remain, the largest consumer of emulsions, with the Chinese market nearly quadrupling in size between 1999 and 2009.

Consumption is also rapidly rising in India and other developing nations, driven by strong economic growth and the ongoing replacement of solvent-based coatings and adhesives with waterborne products, the report says.

Acrylics will remain the leading emulsion polymer product type through 2014, accounting for 37% of total demand.  Acrylics will also be the fastest-growing class of emulsions, driven by increasing demand in latex paints and coatings.

Vinyl acetate emulsions, which are used in adhesives and water-based coatings, will also see healthy gains in demand, the report says. Advances will be more subdued for styrene-butadiene (SB) latexes, but even this slower growth will represent a substantial acceleration over the sluggish increases of the 2004-2009 period.