It is not often that one can report on change of the scale that is taking place in Asia Pacific at the moment. Once in a lifetime events are shaping the global coatings industry as never before and it is not an easy task to try to do justice to the enormity of what is happening.
China in particular, ably assisted by India, is turning the coatings world upside down. China moved into second place in the world in 2002 when it overtook Japan in output terms and is now within striking distance of dislodging the USA from the number 1 position which it has held for generations seemingly as of right. India, meanwhile, tucks in behind Germany, ousting Brazil from 4th position.
Separately China and India are proving formidable, as a glance at our first table will demonstrate. For example, it is difficult to comprehend growth figures in double digits by volume, still less in the twenties and what is more on a huge and ever-increasing base when one has been accustomed for decades to figures in the 1-3% range and, in many regions of the world, nil or even negative outcomes.