South Africa road marking paint market is about to grow

In the medium term, South Africa's national road network will increase from the current 22214 km to 25000 km, which will bring more growth opportunities to the country's road marking paint market. The rapid growth of road marking coatings in South Africa also benefits from the increasing number of projects managed, maintained and developed by the state-owned semi state-owned road network of South Africa, including some provincial roads in many countries, by the South African National Road Agency, sanral. In 2017-2018, sanral carried out 233 road projects in total, including the construction of new roads, improvement of existing non toll roads, etc., which improved the consumption level of road marking coatings. In South Africa, or in other African markets, there are many institutions that do not meet the data standards for road marking and road maintenance. Elsewhere, according to the World Health Organization (who), South Africa is considered one of the countries with a poor road safety record. The United Nations health agency estimates that the death rate in the country is 31.9 per 100000, while the average death rate in Africa is 24.1 per 100000, and the global average is 18 per 100000. The effective and continuous use of high quality road marking coatings is one of the strategies adopted by the public and private sectors in South Africa to improve the country's road safety record. It is estimated that there are 1 million traffic accidents every year in South Africa, about 40 people are fatally injured every day, and another 20 people are permanently disabled. The Ministry of transport of South Africa estimates that the annual cost of traffic accidents in the country is 11.6 billion US dollars, equivalent to 3.4% of the country's GDP.

This is nearly 1.4% higher than the international benchmark. "Road signs are an important factor in maintaining a high level of safety for road users," goodwill mbatha of Johannesburg's Road Department said in a previous statement. The centre and side lines improve road safety by reducing single vehicle accidents and head-on collisions. " Mbatha added: "road markings are necessary guidance for road users, which is more important when driving at night and in severe conditions such as heavy rain and fog." In Johannesburg, between July 2017 and December 2018, about 2431 km of the 11043 km target road section was painted. The target road network for painting costs $3.5 million. In 2018, sanral received US $3.1 billion to maintain and improve the national toll free and coal transportation network. In addition, US $262 million was used for the upgrading of Moroto highway and US $99 million for the reconstruction of Haoteng highway. In addition, the Ministry of finance of South Africa allocated US $2.3 billion in 2017-2018 for provincial road maintenance to repair road infrastructure, including related road signs, such as horizontal signs, vertical signs, arrows, painted islands, symbols, letters, numbers, parking signs and road studs. Several companies have been involved in the production and supply of road marking coatings. What the market increasingly needs is temperature sensitive, durable and reflective products to meet the needs of South Africa's growing traffic congestion and already serious road accidents. Guanxi plasma South Africa Co., Ltd. is one of the companies to meet the demand of the national road marking coating market. It is oriented to the national and provincial roads. Some plasma pavement marking solutions include hysheen, brick and concrete, thermoplastic and cold curing leveling pavement marking.

Other road sign coating products in South Africa are from global coating companies such as Ennis flint and Hempel. Johannesburg and other South African cities are keen to meet the road safety and smooth traffic flow through the effective use of road signs. They adhere to the use of "including crystal glass beads with strong absorption, storage and luminous capacity" coating. Johannesburg Road Authority also provides other guidelines on the quality of road signs, including coatings that glow in the dark for more than 12 hours to improve the safety of road users. In order to protect the environment, JRA requires all road marking coatings to be non-toxic and free of radioactive additives. According to JRA, the paint must be fast drying, suitable for direct application to all types of new or previously applied asphalt and concrete pavements, and can be applied by brush or stripping machine. Pigments must have good retro reflectance. South African regulators have previously issued guidelines on how to improve road safety and traffic flow on the country's roads, particularly through the use of SABS certified road marking paints. With the increasing public investment in the development of safer and larger roads in South Africa, it is expected that new road construction projects and maintenance of existing projects will be added in South Africa, which will promote the growth of road marking coatings in the country in the medium and long term.