Update on Inorganic Pigments

By Cynthia Challener

Producers of inorganic pigments face challenges similar to those being addressed by other sectors of the paint and coatings industry: high raw material, energy, and transportation costs; increasing environmental regulations; and growing customer demands for additional performance at lower cost.

Suppliers of the many different types of inorganic pigments, extenders, and fillers have found that investing in innovation and enhanced customer relationships will be the key to success in the current climate. The inorganic pigments market can be broken down in several different ways. The approach taken by market research firm Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney is to report market information based on pigment colors.

The main categories are white, black, colored, anticorrosive, metallic, and pearlescent. Inorganic white pigments, which is largely represented by titanium dioxide (TiO2), is by far the largest segment. The global market for TiO2 used in paints and coatings was nearly $4.8 billion in 2004, according to Michael D. Brown, vice president of the ChemQuest Group, a management consulting firm located in Cincinnati, OH and an affiliate of TZ Minerals International of West Perth, Australia.

The growth rate was an unusually high 7.7% over 2003 versus a long-term historical growth rate of 3%. The growth for 2005 should be closer to the historical rate. In North America, approximately 1.6 billion pounds of white pigments were used in paints and coatings, according to Steven Nerlfi, a consultant with Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney. Zinc oxide accounted for about 15 million pounds.

Mr. Nerlfi puts the growth rate of white pigments in North America at around 2%. Major suppliers include DuPont, Millennium, Kerr-McGee, and Kronos.