London-based information research institute IRL recently published a report on the Middle East and Africa coatings industry market, predicting that the size of the Middle East coatings market will grow at an annual rate of 4% to 5% from now until 2019. The report believes that compared to industrial coatings, the market growth prospects for architectural and decorative coatings are more optimistic, and it will become the main coating product in the Middle East region. The Middle East market has become a battlefield for multinational coatings companies to compete.
Many Middle Eastern countries are vigorously developing their local tourism industry, and infrastructure construction will open up new coatings markets, driving the growth in demand for architectural coatings, automotive paint, and marine coatings. Recently, many chemical and coatings companies have turned their attention to the Middle East, including Germany's BASF and Bayer, U.S.-based Huntsman, Sweden's AkzoNobel, and Norway's Jotun, among others, all of whom have significantly increased their investments in the Middle East. Industry insiders point out that construction investment is often the engine driving economic growth. Survey data shows that the sales of Middle East architectural coatings account for 64% of the total coatings sales in the region, and it is estimated that the coatings market size in the region will reach $3.5 billion by 2019.
