Three Hot Spots in the Coating Demand
                 Wu Xinmin and Qu Ying
According to the information  from  the  Coating  Technical
Information Seminar for Central and Western Parts of China
recently closed, building coatings,   automobile  coatings
and wood furniture coatings are the  three  hot  spots  in
China's coating demand today.
The coating industry in China has  developed  fast  in  the
recent years and there are already more than 4 500 coating
producers. Major producers are  concentrated  in  Jiangsu,
Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Henan and  Hebei.
The output of coatings in Jiangsu was 310 000 tons in 1996
, holding the first place in China, accounting for  20%  of
the national total. The output in Guangdong  was  230  000
tons, being the second, accounting for 15% of the national
total. The output in Shanghai was 180 000 tons, being  the
third, accounting for 12% of the national total.
The total output  of  coatings  in  China  reached  1. 6582
million tons in 1997, a rise  of  10. 5%  over  the  1. 50
million tons in 1996.
Since the reform and opening up, China has introduced  from
abroad  production  technologies  and  key  equipment  for
  building  coatings,   automobile  coatings,     corrosion
-resistant coatings and wood furniture coatings,  and  main
production bases of special  coatings  have  been  formed.
China has taken the automobile industry and  the  building
industry as major economic growth points.  The  demand  of
building coatings, automobile coatings and wood  furniture
coatings will therefore have a big increase. The  apparent
consumption of coatings in China reached 1.75 million tons
in 1997, a rise of 9.4% over the 1.60 million tons in 1996
.
China is a developing country.   The  economy  has  made  a
sustained and stable development in the recent years.  The
total output of coatings in China ranks  the  4th  in  the
world. The per-capita annual consumption  is  however  far
lower than industrially advanced countries. The per-capita
annual consumption in China is only a little more than 1 kg.
It is 23 kg in the United States and 16 kg in Japan.   The
population in China has reached 1.3 billion,   and  it  is
easy to see that the coating market  has  a  great  market
potential.
It is expected that the total domestic demand  of  coatings
in 2000 will reach 2  million  tons,   900  000  tons  for
building coatings, 140 000 tons  for  automobile  coatings
and 130 000 tons for wood furniture coatings.