Pigments Market Panel Discussion

摘要

Coatings World (CW): How did the pigments market perform in 2009? How does this compare to 2008 and what are your predictions for 2010?Mehran Yazdani, vice president, marketing, performance pigments, Sun Chemical: There continues to be strong positive trends toward the usage of high performance and effect pigments, but overall, 2009 was a challenging year for the pigments market worldwide and had comparable results to the end of 2008 when the economic downturn officially began. While there are now signs of recovery in the third quarter of 2009, the struggling automotive market and housing slump led to a decline in auto sales, home building and paint use worldwide. It is difficult to predict when the economy will fully turn around but we are cautiously optimistic that the economy will show some improvement in 2010. Until then, Sun Chemical Performance Pigments is committed to fulfilling our obligation as the leader of the industry. We will take appropriate measures to ensure that we can effectively weather the storm. At the same time, we remain committed to investing in our strategic imperatives and providing value to our customers.