International. Analyst Ceresana examined the global market for paints and coatings in the automotive industry, in which an important finding was highlighted: the use of solvents is increasing again.
For the first time, market research company Ceresana analyzed in detail the automotive paints and coatings market in regards to coating layers, application areas, technologies, and product types. "Global demand for these high-performance coatings amounted to nearly 3.1 million tons in 2016," says Oliver Kutsch, CEO of Ceresana. "The current study records the coating of all parts that are produced by suppliers or vehicle manufacturers and are used in road vehicles, both for new production and for spare parts."
Ceresana analysts expect demand for serial coating to increase worldwide by 3.7% per year, considerably stronger than the refinish coatings segment. With regard to quantities, the base layer is the most important coating layer, followed by an electrodeposition coating. The base layer is a colored layer and determines the visual appearance of the entire coating to a large extent. The main purpose of the electrodeposition coating is the protection of the car body against corrosion. By means of primer surfaces, the imperfections on the surface are compensated, more than 380,000 tons are used worldwide for this purpose.
Ceresana thoroughly analyzed the automotive coatings market, as well as the demand for individual coating types (acrylic, polyurethane, epoxy, others) and technologies (solvent-based/water-based and others). The most commonly used product type for street vehicles are acrylic coatings, followed by polyurethane-based systems. Sales of PUR products in particular represent above-average growth.
Solvent-based coatings maintain binding agents and liquid pigments. Over the past few decades, substantial efforts were made to reduce or stop emissions during hardening due to health and environmental reasons: there has been intense research on the development of paint systems that contain few or no solvents. However, Ceresana expects global demand for solvent-based coatings to continue to increase by 2.4% per year through 2024.
Source: Ceresana.
