Domestic car sales rebounded, the automotive coatings market is optimistic

This year, due to the sudden attack of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, all walks of life have been affected, and the automotive coatings market is no exception. But recently, good news came from the auto market. Automobile sales rebounded sharply in April, the domestic auto market is picking up, and the corresponding automotive coatings market is also optimistic for a long time.

Weak automotive market in the first quarter

At the beginning of 2020, affected by the weak sales of cars and the new crown pneumonia, the media and people in the automotive industry generally expressed that they were not optimistic about the short-term market of automotive coatings.

Auto OEM paint manufacturers said that the growth of the auto paint market in 2019 was modest, and listed some factors that may have a negative impact on the market in 2020, including the increasing severity of global trade relations and the new crown epidemic.

Patrick Bourguignon, director of AkzoNobel Automotive and Specialty Coatings, said: "We continue to see different growth rates across the globe and global automobile production is generally at a disadvantage. There are multiple driving forces behind this, including Brexit and stricter emissions Regulations, continued Sino-US trade conflicts and delayed capital expenditures. "

Wu Chunping, president of Axalta Greater China, said recently that similar to peer companies and other industrial companies, since the outbreak of January this year, the end market and customers in various regions have reduced the demand for company products. Judging from the development of the Chinese automobile market, the epidemic has greatly impacted the global economy and the automobile industry.

The auto market reversed in April and sales increased

However, a few days ago, according to a number of car manufacturers released production and sales data in April, the head car companies recovered significantly, the overall sales of heavy trucks "blowout", far exceeding market expectations. Experts pointed out that the auto market was blocked in the first quarter, sales in April rebounded significantly, and the auto market showed a V-shaped reversal. The shift in consumer demand affected by the epidemic in the first quarter has a certain role in promoting the auto market in April.

According to the latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China ’s automobile production and sales reached 2.102 million units and 2.07 million units in April, an increase of 2.3% and 4.4% respectively over the same period of the previous year. Sales volume ended a 21-month decline.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said that in April this year, the auto market rebounded more strongly than expected. Among them, the production and operation of vehicle companies have basically resumed, and the output has reached the level of the same period last year.

The automotive coatings market is optimistic for a long time

At present, China is still the country with the largest total automobile consumption in the world. The market itself is extremely impressive, and the number of car ownership ranks second in the world. As of the end of 2019, the number of motor vehicles nationwide reached 348 million, of which 260 million Vehicles, and the number of cars per 1,000 people in China has just exceeded the global average, which highlights the huge potential for future growth of the Chinese auto industry.

From this point of view, China's automotive coatings market cannot be underestimated. The strong downstream demand will maintain the growth momentum of the automotive coatings industry. At the same time, the automotive coatings industry is developing in the direction of environmental protection, economy, and high performance. The investment prospect is broad.

Coating giant overweights Chinese market

In the past two years, many international and domestic paint companies have overweighted the Chinese automotive paint market.

BASF: In 2019, BASF's new automotive application R & D center and process catalytic R & D center in Shanghai Innovation Park will be put into operation. Each expansion means that BASF is closer to the Chinese market and extending into new areas. As of now, the total investment of BASF Shanghai Innovation Park is about 180 million euros, with more than 700 R & D personnel.

Nippon: On March 11 this year, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of projects supported by the provincial-level special fund for promoting high-quality economic development in 2020 to support provincial-level enterprise technology centers. The research and industrialization project received a subsidy of RMB 2 million.

Axalta: On April 28 this year, Axalta laid the foundation for the expansion project of the Shanghai Jiading water-based paint factory. The expanded water-based paint factory will enable Axalta to better meet the growing demand for sustainable water-based paint from automotive and industrial paint customers in East and South China.

Jilin Delian: In April of this year, the relocation project of Jilin Delian Automotive Coatings Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Delin Group, started construction in the Jilin Economic Development Zone. This project has a total investment of 250 million yuan and covers an area of 60,600 square meters. After the project is fully put into operation, it can realize an annual output value of 500 million yuan.

Not only the above-mentioned enterprises, China, as the world's largest automotive market, has attracted many multinational coating companies in recent years. PPG, AkzoNobel, KCC, Kansai and other coating giants are also focusing on China to grab the domestic automotive coating market.

As China's epidemic situation improves and the government has successively issued policies to promote automobile consumption, especially to activate a large number of promotion policies for the automobile consumption potential of third-tier and below-tier cities, it is believed that after adjustment and optimization, China's automobile market will gradually recover, and for a longer period Keep it stable. As the automotive and coatings industries continue to upgrade to sustainable products, China's waterborne coatings market will continue to grow.