As the Global Economy Goes, So Goes the Coatings Industry

It is July and along with barbeques and fireworks, it’s time for PCI’s annual listing of the top 10 global and the top 25 North American coating companies. 2012 global coatings sales figures are included for each company.

Overall, 2012 was another year of positive growth in the industry. Almost all of the North American companies covered in the report saw increased sales in 2012. PPG reported increased net sales in each of its three coatings segments, and Sherwin-Williams again reported total consolidated sales of over $9 billion.

The performance of North American coatings companies seems to reflect the progress of the U.S. economy overall, with a slow recovery boosted by improved home sales and construction, and an improvement in the automotive industry.

The global coatings industry also reflects the state of the economy globally. Asia is still growing, although not as robustly as in previous years, and parts of Europe are experiencing economic challenges. While BASF, a global leader in automotive and industrial coatings, posted an increase in sales for 2012, Amsterdambased AkzoNobel posted a decrease of €.5 billion. The company divested its North American architectural coatings business, selling it to PPG.

The AkzoNobel sale to PPG highlights an interesting development in the industry in 2012, which is the top-three North American companies all targeting the U.S. architectural coatings market. Last winter, within weeks of each other, PPG announced plans to buy AkzoNobel’s North American architectural coatings business, Sherwin-Williams announced plans to buy Consorcio Comex, S.A. de C.V., and Valspar announced a long-term strategic supply relationship with Ace Hardware Corp., which will put Valspar paints in more than 4,000 Ace retail locations. It appears that the leaders in the industry all see growth potential in the North American architectural coatings market. Time will tell which of those leaders manages to rise to the top.

The article can be found on page 20. While the PCI staff made every effort to seek out the top companies in the industry, we may have inadvertently omitted some. Please contact me at parkerpcimag@ gmail.com if you have interest in being included next year.