Paint & Coating Manufacturing Industry Profile

Companies in this industry manufacture paints, varnishes, lacquers, enamels, and other coatings. Major companies include Axalta Coating Systems (formerly DuPont Performance Coatings), Benjamin Moore, PPG, RPM International, Sherwin-Williams, and Valspar, as well as Akzo Nobel (the Netherlands), Nippon Paint (Japan), Hempel A/S (Denmark), and the coatings operations of BASF (Germany).

The global coatings industry generates about $100 billion in annual revenue. By 2017, the global coatings market is expected to be valued at nearly $110 billion, according to Global Industry Analysts. The top paint and coating producing countries include the US, China, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.

The US paint and coatings manufacturing industry includes about 1,100 companies with combined annual sales of about $22 billion and is expected to experience a high rate of growth over the next two years. Growth drivers include pent-up demand for housing and light vehicles.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by industrial production and the housing market. The profitability of individual companies depends on technological expertise and efficient production. Small companies can compete successfully with large ones because of the large number of paints and coatings used for a wide variety of applications, including decoration, water resistance, and corrosion resistance. The industry is highly concentrated: the largest 50 companies account for about 80 percent of revenue.

Imports, which come largely from Canada and Germany, represent about 5 percent of the US paint and coatings market. Exports, which ...