Readjusting 2020

Many businesses were forced back to the drawing board as the global health pandemic caused by Covid-19 forced world economies to a halt. Coatings SA afforded companies within the coatings sector to share some of their thoughts and company news.

BAMR

What does 2020 and beyond look like for BAMR? Dire, the extended lockdown was a seriously flawed decision by the powers that be and the repercussions will be long lasting. The quicker things return to the prelockdown scenario the better.

Any exciting new products being launched that you can share with our readers? Elcometer as our major supplier are always very innovative in their planning and new product launches. With the delays from Covid-19 impacting all industries, the research and development for new instruments have stalled. There are, however, plans though to introduce a new Coating Thickness Gauge as well as gauges that will measure thin coatings on non-metallic substrates. The timing of these launches is uncertain with the economic uncertainty but the planning is in the pipeline.

SYNTHETIC POLYMERS

What steps should the industry implement to navigate the impact of Covid-19 on the South African Coatings Sector? The global economy was already in a precarious place in 2019. Risk of global recession this year is extremely high as nations shut down economic activity to limit the spread of Covid-19. The virus outbreak has disrupted manufacturing supply chains and has sharply curtailed commodity demand.

The SA Coatings sector has followed the same trajectory, if anything it’s slightly worse due to already weak domestic demand and household spending.

This would mean a double whammy for our economy, as it will have to bear the brunt of both domestic and global demand destruction.

The industry will have to work as a collective to navigate through this very bumpy terrain. Most chemical companies and downstream coatings manufacturers are small to medium scale units and have minimal working capital buffer. Banking assistance would be needed to provide working capital loans on flexible and favourable terms – the same should be lobbied with the government. Review of import tariffs on essential feedstocks, which are not available locally will also help tremendously. In a nutshell, this crisis is a story with an uncertain ending. However, this has led to new challenges in the business environment, which calls for a measured, practical and informed approach.

What does 2020 and beyond look like for Synthetic Polymers? Synthetic Polymers is not immune to the crisis outlined and 2020 definitely is challenging and an adopting phase to the new normal. It's very difficult to predict further into 2021 as there are countless variables to consider. However, the only saving grace being a solid foundation of customer service and quality, which we have laid over the last few years coupled with a varied solvent borne resin product portfolio. This will truly assist us in weathering this storm – not forgetting the support from our loyal customer base that have always stood by us and even more so in such times.

Any exciting new products being launched that you can share with our readers? Synthetic Polymers is constantly developing new products and variants of current resins to ensure optimisation of number of coating formulations.

Especially during such tough economic times it is very imperative to be in position to be innovative and think out of the box. A number of high solids low viscosity products have been successfully manufactured and marketed such as Styrenated Alkyd & Medium oil.

The Acrylated Alkyd for manufacture of DTM (direct to Metal) Coatings has gained much traction and acceptance in the marketplace.