The State of the U.S.Coatings Industry 2022 The Confluence of High Demand,Restricted Supply,Rising Inflation,Labor Shortages,and Cash Flow Issues

摘要

Some raw material suppliers quietly admit that they are sold out through the end of 2024,and paint producers are missing one strategic opportunity after another because their R&D colleagues are spending the lion's share of their time not formulating new products,but finding raw material substitutions so that they can produce existing products.Who would have guessed,in 2019,that it would be 2022 before the coatings industry began to even resemble what it had looked like during that fine,but in no way remarkable,year?Not that 2022 has proven to be in any way a"normal"year,if we are even able to define such a once clear and cogent term.This is still an unsettling year in which raging inflation,nearly unprecedented rate hikes by the Federal Reserve,the Russian aggression against the sovereign State of Ukraine,and an abrupt change in the American vision of China from"trading partner"to"potential enemy"have kept virtually everybody and everything off balance.Although the industry recovered in 2021 from a small dip in volume in 2020,the real news is the dramatic increase in value,-25% over the two-year period,2020-2022 estimated(2022e),that has resulted from the high cost of crude,ongoing global supply chain issues,shortages,transportation issues/logistics and labor shortages.All have led to galloping inflation that the chairman of the Federal Reserve feels may be peaking in August,although it will probably take one to two years to return to the target rate of 2% per year.