Cocktail of innovation and awareness drive by wood coating companies have been helping the market growth in India. Protective wood coating market is reported to catch up with fast pace along with increasing market efforts by suppliers, choice of high gloss interior and purchasing capacity of consumers. If compared to the consumption of paint only 2 percent was the share of protective wood coating 10 years back which has increased to 20 percent now. Combining tradition and technological innovation in the manufacture of coating for wood listening to individual requirements, loving the environment and being dedicated to beauty the industry has found solution with innovation in material that made its maintenance easy as it facilitates the applicators to manage staining and scratching with little efforts.
EXPANDING MARKETS
Like many industries, wood coating industry has made a good start. There has been a massive switch by coatings companies over the last 10 years from solvent based to water based coatings for the Architectural/ Decorative Coatings Sector. They are expanding markets with acquisitions, MOU and JVs to capture the market at greater strength. The demand for low-VOC (volatile organic compound) wood coating products is increasing, which is a major opportunity to wood coating manufacturers. Suppliers are introducing innovative raw materials for such formulations, and it is positively impacting the wood coatings market and prompting growth.
India is Asia’s second-largest wood coating market after China. The consumption was over 28 lakh tonnes of paint and coating in 2013. In the last four-five years, the growth of wood coating consumption has been remarkably high. A study shows that those who use costly timber prefer to apply coatings rather than paint it, so in the last 10 years the consumption of wood coating has increased by ten times. Mr. Shaji Thomas, National Sales Head, ICA-Pidilite Pvt Ltd said, “Those who use costly timber prefer to apply coatings rather than paint it. For example if a person use wood plank of cost about three lakh rupees then he definitely want such type of product which can show its grains and protect it from all wood related problems”.
Anurag Sinha, Sales Manager – India Wood Coating, Sherwin- Williams Coatings India Pvt Ltd, Delhi said, “Wood coating has become a demanded product in entire India market because use of wood products has increased due to its likeness among people with increasing purchasing
capacity. Their tests have changed a lot now they are willing to invest on durable products”. Mr. Baljeet Singh of Sirca said, “Its future is bright as the awareness level is increasing at fast pace. Besides, the product is also very much attractive. I would like to say aspirant end users that wood coating is value for money product which give longer life with beauty and maintain aesthetic look and feel of the product.”
The diversified coating industry has been witnessing market changes in the past few years. Leading wood coating manufacturers are eyeing markets in India due to increasing demand from across the country, so they are tying up with Indian players offering their innovative solutions. The key players of this market prefer agreements, expansions & investments, and mergers & acquisitions to garner a larger share in the market.
Mergers & acquisitions have been the key strategies adopted by leading companies such as Pidilite Industries has formed an equal joint venture company - Wood Coat - with Industria Chimica Adriatica Spa (ICA) of Italy, and Nippon Paint (India) has partnered with Italy´s IVM Chemicals, a world-leading wood coatings company to accommodate the rapidly changing technologies in the application areas and to increase their market share.
ICA has a plan to Indian operations by 2018 that would be for all including middle and lower income group people. Currently Indian players are having about marginal market share in wood coating and major share are still into the lap of overseas players from European countries. They are expecting this market to grow by 30 percent per year for about five years from now. On the other hand SIRCA also plan to come up with their Indian subsidiary in near future.
Besides melamine based wood coating, the number of companies is offering different range in coating such as toxic free, water resistance etc. and quality of products are also improved off late. Acrylic-based Wood Coatings are also growing because of finish, durability, surfacing versatility and premium gloss look. Improved versions of acrylic-based wood coatings with enhanced performance characteristics are driving the global furniture wood coatings market.
The future looks promising for increasing investments in the country’s infrastructure, boosting demand for protective coatings. Companies that belong in this category are MGF, ICA, SIRCA, PCG, Hessy, Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac, AkzoNobel India, Berger, Duluxe, Shalimar Paints, JAT, Axalta, Nippon Paint, BASF Coatings, Jotun, etc. In the small-scale “unorganized” sector, there are as many as 2,000 producers.
Coating and paint producers in the organized sector are active across the nation and tend to have manufacturing facilities in multiple locations. The smaller players only serve the immediate region where they are located and lack advanced technical capabilities. The unorganized sector tends to deal with low-value products and may represent as much as 35 percent of the total coatings market.
CHANGING TRENDS
Wood coating trend is changing in India, people are shifting their choice from just painting to protective wood coating resulting to boost the consumption of wood coating and veneer applications. Currently the consumption is seen in the market segment of high quality wood coating. But customers of all segments are taking interest. Companies are keen to facilitate these solutions to all so that they are inventing various solutions which can be much cost effective in near future. At present Polyester, Polyurethane (PU) as transparent, pigmented and Acrylic with open or closed pores are most popular of wood coatings.
Polyester Coatings is suitable for closed-pore top coats, they make it possible to achieve a coating film with a high level of chemical/physical resistance that is easy to sand and is subject to limited shrinkage over time. The use of Polyester coating application is an ease of use solution which is electrostatic and poses high solid content (65-90 percent) with high level of chemical/physical resistance, good sand-ability, rapid-drying, reduced yellowing, and formaldehyde/NMP free. It is durable and highly scratch resistance, very effective in terms of chemical resistance, environment friendly, etc.
Mr. Nikhil Mahapatra, Technical Director, Kupsa Coatings Pvt Ltd said, “In wood coating the Polyurethane (PU) coating is in great demand. In this coating process there are many types like alkyd, acrylic, polyesters and water based PU are more in demand in hotels, offices, homes, etc. The demand is not only for furniture but wardrobes and kitchen the coating applications are being done in great way. Earlier NC and Melamine was in use which has become out dated now. In unorganised sector as well people have started using PU.”
He added further, “The coating is being used on veneer and wood both as with veneer people have more choices and it gives a natural look, but laminate is more of a plastic kind of look which destroys the aesthetic appeal in the applications. So, people have shifted more on veneer, secondly on the plywood and MDF also people are using PU paint rather than the conventional paint”
“Wood Coatings industry in India is continuously growing by developing new innovative products. However, the level of technological advancement is still far behind the Foreign Companies. Indian companies need help in terms of technological advancement and government funded research to help compete with Foreign Brands,” added Mr Rajat Mittal, General Manager, GCI Paints.
Due to their versatility Polyurethane (PU) Coating is recommended for surface subject to high level of wearand- tear. People are using PU because its quality is better and gives longer life to the product. In case of PU coating there is no extra cost for repairing only just in ten percent cost of the PU coating once again gets newer look after repairing. Its life is more than 10 to 15 years which give its usefulness to generations to generations.