CoatingsTech Archives
The Great Supply Chain Fiasco of 2021-2022
June 2023
By George R. Pilcher
I would like to begin this article by assuring all of CoatingsTech’s readers that “all is
well—the raw material supply chains have returned to normal,” but I cannot.
What I can say is that the statement is more like 85–90% true. There are still a few issues,
typically with special materials that are not in broad general use, and also with certain alkyd
and acrylic emulsion resins, but the majority of the bread-and-butter resins, solvents,
pigments and additives of the U.S. paint and coatings industry are generally available,
albeit with slightly longer lead times (at least as of early March, as this article is being
written), and significantly higher selling prices than was the case three years ago.
because of the hoarding that had taken place between 2021 and Q3 2022, paint and coatings
production during Q4 was largely made with the expensive raw materials that the industry
collectively had in stock already. Activity in January 2023 was nothing to
write home about, but the de-stocking of raw materials held in the paint companies’
warehouses continued well into January, with a certain amount of spillover into
February. Things began picking up for raw material orders in February, and it is rea-
sonable to assume that the overall industry, along with its supply chain partners, will
exhibit solid, but certainly not outstanding, performance by the end of Q1. My personal
crystal ball doesn’t yield a lot of insight beyond Q1, although there seems to be a
general consensus among both the raw material suppliers and the coatings produc-
ers in most segments that Q2-Q4 will give solid, although unexciting, performance.