Manufacturers of decorative coatings should focus their marketing efforts on eastern Europe, according to a new market study presented by industry association International Committee of the Decorative Laminates Industry (ICDLI, Frankfurt / Germany; www.icdli.com) at its recent annual meeting, held from 11-12 October in Vienna / Austria. The research, conducted by Pöyry Management Consulting (Mannheim / Germany; www.poyry.de) predicts a consistent rise in demand in eastern Europe. By comparison, demand in western Europe is expected to rise only slightly.

Although the market in eastern Europe has been able to only partially make up for the serious cave-in of 2009 (21%), in 2010 and 2011, it has been growing at a rate of about 15%. Looking ahead to 2020, Pöyry expects demand to rise by about 4.2% each year to reach almost 120m m², largely driven by Russia. By comparison, the market in western Europe is expected to increase by only 0.6% per year to reach a total volume of roughly 200m m² in 2020.

European decorative coating manufacturers will likely come under increasing pressure from competitors from abroad – especially from Latin America – who are flooding the European market with their cheaper, but often also inferior, product. The situation for European producers is made worse by the constant rise in feedstock costs, which players often are unable to pass down fully to their customers, in part because of competition from abroad. The key advantages of the European coatings industry, Pöyry says, are its quality as well as the materials’ design and application possibilities.