Government investment is the main driving force behind many sectors of the Thai paint market, not least of which is an ongoing trillion-baht investment program designed to overhaul the country's standard of living through construction and infrastructure upgrades. The large-volume decorative sector has witnessed something of a turn-away from large-scale, state-funded projects in 2005 with the top decorative-paint companies reporting a swing towards the retail side of market and with it a switch from premium to medium and more-economical paints.
Although the automotive OEM sector is widely tipped to be a growth market in the future, with those in the industry expecting growth of 20% per year over the next five years, the largest part of the industrial coatings market lies in heavy-duty coatings as a result of the country's strong petrochemical, food, steel and papermaking industries, which will grow as a result of increased domestic consumption and opportunities in export markets.