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Approximately 28.8 million metric tons of paints and coatings valued at approximately $67 billion were produced worldwide in 2004. The paints and coatings industry in the United States, Western Europe and Japan is mature and generally correlates with the health of the economy, especially housing/construction and transportation. The following pie chart shows consumption of paints and coatings by major country:
Overall demand from 2004 to 2009 will increase at average annual rates of 2% in the United States and 1.5% in Western Europe. In Japan, however, consumption of paints and coatings will experience relatively slow growth (0.3%) as a result of a lack of growth in major markets such as automotive OEM, machinery and appliances.
In the less industrialized world, coatings are growing at a much faster rate. The best prospects for growth are in Asia Pacific (10–15% growth per year in the near future), Eastern Europe (6%) and Latin America (6%). Growth of coatings in China is expected to continue at 8–10% per year. Most of the major multinational paint producers, including ICI, PPG, Akzo Nobel, Kansai Paint, Nippon Paint, BASF, DuPont, Chugoku Marine Paint and Hempel, have production in China.
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