Five facts about the five most important additives

Additives are critical components for the successful formulation of any modern-day coating and ink. Five additive classes can be considered the leading types. We have collected five fascinating facts.

At least if you look at tonnage and value, the five most important classes of additives are rheology modifiers, dispersants, foam control products, slip & rub materials and wetting agents. Most of them are used paints and lacquers, a smaller portion in printing inks.

Amount of Additives

In total the five most used additive types account for an annual usage of 1,15 tonnes globally.

Value of additives

Summed up the five most important additives types account for 4.19 EUR in value.

Regional consumption of coatings additives

The Asia-Pacific region consumed 40 % of the additive volume in 2017. Europe took 28 % of the global additive volume and 25 % were used in North America.

Additive consumption per coatings systems

By far the most additives are used in water-borne coatings followed by solvent-borne coatings. For printing inks the proportion is the other way around. Solvent-borne inks are responsible for a larger share of additive usage than water-borne printing inks.

The big players

The additive market seems to head towards domination by a few big companies. The five biggest additive manufacturers together share just about half of the global market. Five years ago it was only 42 %.