Small particles provide orientation and signal effect as well as camouflage and sun protection, if necessary: pigments are coloring substances that are essentially insoluble in water or other application media. They are mainly added to paints and coatings, plastics, and building materials (soluble dyes, on the other hand, are mainly used for dyeing liquids). The region Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest share of global demand in 2019. The market researchers at Ceresana also expect the highest growth over the coming years for this region of the world, together with Africa. Global demand for pigments is forecast to increase to around 11.14 million tonnes by 2027.

Surface Decoration and Protection

The most important sales market for the pigment industry in 2019 was the application area paints and coatings with a demand of 4.65 million tonnes. The demand in the category plastics ranked second by a considerable margin, followed by the application areas construction materials, printing inks, and paper. Interior and facade paints for the construction industry account for around 2.4 million tonnes of pigments. The second largest sub-market is industrial products, where coatings can perform a variety of functions: protection against environmental influences, decoration, as well as, for example, electrical insulation for electrical goods or an oxygen barrier for food packaging.

Pigments for Plastics and Printing Inks

With around 1.3 million tonnes, rigid and flexible packaging accounts for the majority of pigment applications in the plastics sector. The second largest area of use is in industrial applications, for example in components for the automotive industry, electrical engineering and electronics, mechanical engineering, medical technology, and the agricultural industry. With regard to printing inks, the use of pigments in offset printing dominates the total market for printing inks with a share of 52%. The second largest application is the use of pigments in flexographic printing, which is used in particular for flexible packaging, cellulose and nonwovens, labels, corrugated cardboard, cardboard boxes, and films.

Titanium Dioxide and Iron Oxide are the Most Important Pigment Types

Inorganic and organic pigments can be distinguished by their chemical composition: organic pigments are based on carbon whereas inorganic pigments are usually metal salts. The white, inorganic compound titanium dioxide (TiO2) accounts for about 59% of the global demand for pigments. Titanium dioxide is mainly used for paints and coatings. The second largest sales market is iron oxide pigments, the most widely used inorganic color pigment. Carbon black follows in third place: it is primarily used as a filler for rubber applications, especially in car tires; however, it can also be used as a pigment. The other inorganic pigments as well as all organic pigments, such as azo pigments or polycyclic pigments, only account for a small part of the global pigment market with a total volume of less than 1 million tonnes. Their range of applications, however, is very broad: they offer outstanding color strength, light and weather resistance or other properties for special applications.

The Study in Brief:

Chapter 1 provides an overview and analysis of the global pigment market – including forecasts up to 2027: the development of revenues, demand and production is discussed for each region of the world. The demand figures are divided into the pigment types: Titanium dioxide, carbon black, iron oxides, other inorganic pigments, organic pigments. The various application areas of pigments are also being examined: Paints and coatings (split into the sub-markets construction industry, automotive coatings, industry, and other paints and coatings), plastics (divided by the segments packaging, construction industry, industry, and other plastic applications), paper, construction material, printing inks (split into the categories offset printing, flexo printing, and other printing processes) and other application areas.
Chapter 2 analyzes 31 countries in detail: demand, export, import, production, and revenues. The market data on consumption volumes per country are divided by the individual pigment types and areas of application.
Chapter 3 provides useful company profiles of the 103 most important pigment manufacturers. It is clearly structured according to contact details, revenues, profit, product portfolio, production facilities, and profile summary.
Further information: www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/chemicals/pigments/


About Ceresana
As one of the world's leading market research institutes, Ceresana is specialized in the segments chemicals, plastics, packaging, and industrial goods. Companies have been benefiting from our high-quality industry analyses and forecasts since 2002. More than 190 market studies provide more than 10,000 customers around the world with the knowledge base for their sustainable success.