Image courtesy of ANAFAPYT

As nearshoring drives growth in the Mexican industrial sector, paints and coatings will reap the benefits. According to Mordor Intelligence, the Mexican paints and coatings market was worth approximately US$3.42 billion as of 2023, projected to grow to US$4.32 billion by 2028. That growth will be driven in large part by the construction sector, with urbanization sweeping the country, while expansion in the automotive sector will also be a boon. In a period marked by technological advancements, sustainability provides a bright point of opportunity for Mexican paints and coatings producers and distributors.

The industrial coatings segment will continue to grow as nearshoring develops Mexico’s industrial sector and demand for industrial coatings rises. Innovative material coatings have consistently been in high demand, particularly antibacterial products and those that provide better corrosion and drag resistance. Industry experts spoke about recent trends including demand for coatings utilizing nano particle technology and demand for coatings comprised of raw materials with biodegradable components. 

Carboline is a distributor offering high-performance coatings for any material at risk from corrosion, fire or chemicals, such as water treatment infrastructure, electrics, pipes, and so on, with a particular strength in the petrochemical and rail industries in Mexico. The company, cognizant of the complexity of its offerings, has staff working inside or supervising petrochemical applications. Ernesto Goepfert, Latam director at Carboline, said: “There has been strong growth in the OEM (original equipment manufacturing) area. Mexico hosts several global companies with needs that are difficult to meet, and global suppliers like Carboline are the companies able to meet those global organizations’ standards.”

Demand has moved away from solventborne technologies to waterborne technologies. Jorge Saldaña, commercial director of Wyn de México, said: “Particularly in the industrial coatings segment, many customers are moving away from harmful chemicals and VOCs and are looking for alternatives through waterborne systems.”

Reacciones Quimicas, which offers synthetic resins for coatings for structural industries, has also experienced this demand. The company’s clients are under increasing regulatory and commercial pressure to offer sustainable products. “We have launched low-VOC products to support environmental requirements,” stated Pablo Cueva, director of strategic development at Reacciones Químicas.

Chemetall, a subsidiary of BASF, offers a variety of specialty chemicals including industrial coatings solutions, and is also working to offer more environmentally friendly products, offering a new coating technology, VIANT, which helps customers reduce their energy consumption and requires customers to apply only one product rather than three or four. Ángel Sánchez, managing director of Chemetall, said: “Our primary focus is to develop products that reduce energy consumption in the automotive industry.”

Francisco Rubio, president of the paints and coatings distributor Kemikals, said: “There is a strong tendency towards sustainable products that are environmentally friendly and healthy for end users and workers in the production line. This includes both finished products and the inputs used to produce final goods.”

The sustainability agenda drives regulation

Regulation has a major impact on the paints and coatings segment. That regulation is not just at the Mexican, but also at the regional and global levels. Canada, California, and the European Union are leaders in terms of developing new and stricter regulation, with other US states falling behind these players. 

The Biden administration has made PFAS regulation a priority, publishing an Annual Progress Report under the 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap. In October 2023, the EPA published a rule confirming reporting and recordkeeping requirements for PFAS. More regulation on PFAS, manufactured fluorinated chemicals found in many industrial coatings, will take effect during 2024 and will have a major effect on product offerings. The regulation of PFAS is a major topic of conversation within the industry. “We are looking for some solutions with polymer technologies that work at least similarly to PFAS; PFAS products are excellent in terms of performance, but have some serious limitations and regulations,” said Jorge Saldaña, commercial director of Wyn. “New regulations are pushing new ways of formulating coatings.”

PFAS are not the only area with regulatory changes. At a domestic level, lead coatings regulations are concerning the industry. At the end of 2023, ANAFAPYT met with the Ministry of the Economy to ask that regulations for lead control be formally accredited. Flor de María González, GM of ANAFAPYT, the industry association, stated: “We are engaged in addressing the permissible limit of lead, and we are preparing a proposal for a conformity assessment procedure to modify the standard with the objective of presenting this proposal to COFEPRIS.”

ANAFAPYT is celebrating its 80th anniversary as a reference in the industry and has a slate of activities planned for 2024. The association, in addition to offering networking and educational offerings, will continue to prioritize government communication. One such area that continues to be a priority is communicating with the government regarding the federal law for the control of essential chemical drug precursors, which was published on May 3, 2023.

The law places controls on a variety of inputs for the paints and coatings industry, increasing the regulatory burden on the sector. González said: “We have participated in activities targeted at COFEPRIS and are focused on collaborating with the government to help them understand the issues.”

Adaptibility to regulatory change allows paints and coatings companies to find success. As regulation changes, those companies that offer alternatives for controlled and banned products benefit. Kemikals, for example, has seen a jump in demand for specific products due to regulatory changes. Rubio said: “There is currently a coalescent agent in our product portfolio that is being widely adopted in the Mexican market due to local regulatory changes; although it has been part of our portfolio for a while now, the conditions are right today.”

Companies in the Mexican paints and coatings industry have a history of adaptability and agility. With nearshoring picking up steam, the sector will benefit from the growing industrial sector and greater demand for its products. Nearshoring will bring significant economic benefits for the sector, but also demand agility. “There will also be an increase in competition with all this incoming business, and local companies will benefit from being adaptable and responsive,” said Rubio. “Preparation for this transformative period is essential.”