Since the late 1980s, China's heavy-duty coatings and coating industry has experienced a period of rapid growth, driven by the country's fast-paced economic development. It has become the fastest-growing paint sector globally, the first to integrate into international markets, and now holds the largest share in the industrial coatings field. So, what are the key factors behind this remarkable growth? The author identifies several crucial reasons.
First, China aligned itself with the global shift in industrial chains, seizing opportunities for development. From the mid-1980s to the 1990s, the shipbuilding and ship-repair industries moved to East Asia. By the early 2000s, East Asia accounted for over 80% of the global shipbuilding market, with South Korea and Japan each holding 30–35%, and China around 8–10%. In 2003, China produced 4.6 million tons of ships, rising to 8.4 million tons in 2004 and 10 million tons in 2005. By 2010, it was expected to surpass both South Korea and Japan, becoming the world’s leading shipbuilder. This growth also led to a shift in marine coatings production to East Asia, particularly to China. In the early 1990s, after international coating companies like Jordan, Hemple, Sigma, Kansai, Nippon, KCC, Ameron, and ICI set up operations in Shanghai, many major multinational firms followed, establishing production capacities exceeding 200,000 tons annually in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. Including annual ship repair needs, the marine paint market in China was expected to reach 300,000 to 350,000 tons per year by 2010, prompting further expansion by foreign companies.
Second, infrastructure development has been a major driver for heavy anti-corrosion coatings. Over the past decade, China's expressway network expanded from zero to the second-largest in the world, while railway construction grew at an annual rate of over 10%. Steel structures, concrete bridges, and highway guardrails have seen significant advancements in their corrosion protection systems. Bridge industry standards have been revised, with stricter requirements on paint performance and alignment with international norms. Environmentally-friendly waterborne coatings have also started to be introduced. For example, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge uses a heavy-duty anti-corrosion system that meets today’s global standards. Additionally, thousands of bridges across the country are entering repainting cycles, and large-scale urban projects—such as overpasses, light rail, subways, water and gas pipelines, and venues for events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games—demand high-quality, high-performance, and eco-friendly heavy-duty coatings.
Third, the rise of China as the "world manufacturing base" has fueled the growth of floor coatings. Industrial parks and general factory buildings have driven the epoxy flooring market to grow at 30–40% annually, making it one of the industry's highlights. Beyond standard epoxy floors, functional options such as conductive, non-slip, and chemical-resistant floors are gaining traction.
Fourth, the trend toward integrated coating solutions has pushed the industry toward innovation and product upgrades. Since the 1980s, ship painting has led to the adoption of inorganic zinc-rich pretreatment for steel plates, improving shop primers. Recently, low-treatment surface primers have emerged to reduce costs, and wet blasting and high-pressure water cleaning have given rise to wet rust surface primers and new coatings. Meanwhile, stricter assembly requirements have prompted improvements in heavy-duty coating performance.
Fifth, environmental regulations have accelerated the development of eco-friendly coatings. Regulations on VOCs and hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) have pushed the industry toward high-solids, solvent-free, and water-based coatings. Although traditional low-solid anticorrosive coatings still dominate the market, environmentally friendly coatings are gradually becoming mainstream, especially in high-end sectors and coastal regions. In the early 1990s, the Ministry of Public Security introduced mandatory regulations for fire-retardant coatings, which spurred their development and widespread use in China, despite some current regulatory gaps.
Lastly, research and development in multi-disciplinary heavy-duty anti-corrosion coatings have become increasingly active. Multinational corporations have shifted their R&D centers to China, while academic institutions and universities are playing a growing role in advancing new materials and technologies, injecting fresh energy into the industry.
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