COVID-19 Outbreak- Antimicrobial Coatings Industry Market Report Development Trends, Opportunities and Competitive Landscape in 2021

Overview

The COVID-19 outbreak has increased the importance of antimicrobial products such as antimicrobial textiles, antimicrobial disinfectants, antimicrobial coatings, and others. Antimicrobial coating comprises functional ingredients that make them productive against fungal and bacterial growth. It can be water or solvent based. Antimicrobial coatings are used in various applications, apart from the healthcare sector, such as building, commercial, outdoors, and others.

Impact of COVID-19 on several industries in context with antimicrobial coatings

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to disruption in value chain in numerous industries. Because of which the demand has been affected negatively for several products. Manufacturing sites are either forced to close due to government regulations or because of lack of demand.

 Industry participants active in the market were facing problems in raw material procurement for production of antimicrobial coatings. Export activities were also being hindered owing to the spread of COVID-19 across the world. Eventually, transportation through land, water, and air was suspended for almost three months across the globe.

The major contributor to paints and coatings industry is construction sector. It is one of the largest users of antimicrobial coatings. Construction sector is worker dense sector owing to which it was hugely impacted by outbreak of COVID-19. There has been disruption in construction of various projects owing to lockdown. Because of disruption in construction activities the players’ active in the paints and coatings industry witnessed no demand from construction industry from the first quarter of 2020. In addition, the final investment decision (FID) of various construction projects are delayed or cancelled owing to outbreak of COVID-19. This consequently hindered the demand for antimicrobial coatings.

Some regions or countries that were less impacted by COVID-19, faced problems such as raw material procurement owing to lockdown in manufacturing or supplying countries such as China, India, and others. Moreover, the outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in increase in research and development activities for development of potential antimicrobial coatings for different types of consumers. In addition, the construction activities has resumed in some of the countries owing to removal of lockdown. It is expected that sales of coatings products may increase in first half of 2021.

Healthcare sector is the largest consumer of antimicrobial coatings. During the pandemic the demand spiked which resulted in supply and demand gap. On the contrary, there was decrease in demand for antimicrobial coatings from automotive sector owing to poor automobile sales.  

Expectations from Antimicrobial coatings

The antimicrobial coatings consumer base is expected to increase because of rising awareness regarding health and hygiene. The demand for antimicrobial coating is anticipated to increase from various sectors such as packaging, automotive, and others.

There is fear among common consumers regarding presence of virus on packaging of various products owing to which packaging sector is adopting packaging with antimicrobial properties. The challenge for antimicrobial coating manufacturers is to meet the stringent standards of regulatory bodies as it has to be used in numerous sectors on various types of substrates. In addition, the antimicrobial coating also releases active ingredients that might enter the environment, causing long terms health hazards.

Furthermore, antimicrobial coatings can also be used in automotives. The adoption of antimicrobial coatings to increase from car rental services as people are avoiding public transport. Car rental services are ready to pay for anti-microbial coatings to keeping surfaces protected from harmful microbes.

Antimicrobial coatings have advanced into the food industry. It is used in numerous divisions of food industry such as food processing units, large-scale production, and others. In addition is also used in the containers and utensils used in the process.

Post COVID-19 Scenario

The demand for antimicrobial coatings post COVID-19 will be more from developed regions or countries such as U.S., Germany, and others. This is attributed to increased awareness regarding health and hygiene among all the sectors of building and construction industry i.e. from industrial to residential. The residential consumers in developed counties are more aware about such products than in developing countries. Moreover, the industry participants active in the antimicrobial coatings market have to work on factors such as increasing consumer awareness and price to create demand for antimicrobial coatings in developing countries. The developing regions or countries are price sensitive and looks for cheaper products especially in the residential sector of building and construction industry.

The fastest growing construction industry is Asia-Pacific and Africa which may offers lucrative opportunities for paints and coatings manufacturers post COVID-19. In addition, the healthcare sector is expected to witness growth in developing countries such as India. This is attributed to rising access to healthcare services which may upsurge the adoption of antimicrobial coatings. Healthcare-associated infection is a significant problem in the healthcare sector.

Recent News in the Antimicrobial Coatings Industry during Pandemic

Some of the recent developments in the antimicrobial industry amid the pandemic are as follows:

·        AkzoNobel, launched the Interpon D2000 and 1000 architectural powder coatings, with extra microbial characteristics.

·        The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) developed antimicrobial coatings for personal protective equipment such as face masks.

·        Parkside which is one of the leading companies in developing innovative packaging solutions has partnered with Touchguard. Touchguard is advanced surface protection suppliers. The aim of partnership is to launch a packaging solution with an antibacterial coating.

·        Designsake Studio, one of the leading strategic agencies in branding and packaging design, launched its new platform named Matter. The aim of new platform is to make an antimicrobial protective coating that functions with different types of packaging materials.

·        Appvion Operations launched an antimicrobial coating technology named SafeShield for different type substrates

·        Siegwerk and Varcotec inked partnership for the development of antimicrobial coatings

·        Zonitise a microbial control and biotech company, launched antimicrobial surface coating that removes dangerous microbes

·        Advanced NanoTech Lab, a specialty chemical company headquartered in India, has manufactured an antimicrobial nano coating named as Hydraguard Plus.

·        Axalta coating system supplied 3.5-tons of antimicrobial coating to temporary facilities in Chicago- to fight against COVID-19. The antimicrobial coatings were silver based for application in healthcare sector. Silver based antimicrobial coatings are highly preferred for healthcare industry.