Market Overview

Paints and coatings sector in Pakistan holds significant potential for American companies in both downstream and upstream sub-sectors.  With the market size estimated at $400 million, this sector is expected to grow 4 percent per annum over the next 4-5 years.  Despite the 2020-2021 global pandemic, the sector remained relatively unaffected, benefitting from overall positive consumer demand.  The

sector experienced sizable growth across all segments, benefitting in large part from the government’s pandemic-related stimulus package and additional special incentives/amnesty schemes offered to a few key sectors, i.e. construction, as well as a successive reduction in import duties from the past 2-3 years.

According to the Pakistan Coating Association (PCA), the size of the local paints and coatings sector is relatively small compared to other regional markets.  A recent PCA study indicates that the size of local paints and coating products sector is approximately 0.25 million tons, a per capita average of only 1.2 kgs.

Sub Sector

Pakistan’s paints and coating sector is segregated into three major components:

1. Resins (Acrylic, Alkyd, Polyurethane, Epoxy, Polyester, and other Resin Types)
2. Technology (Water-Borne and Solvent-Borne)
3. Geography (Architectural, Automotive, Wood, Industrial Coatings, Transportation, and Packaging)

The following pie charts show the percentage of revenue by resin and end-user types in Pakistan.

(Source: Mordor Intelligence - https://www.mordorintelligence.com/)

(Source: Mordor Intelligence - https://www.mordorintelligence.com/)
 

Opportunities

With a population of over 220 million people, U.S. paints and coating companies has enough room to introduce their products to Pakistan in this sector.   Presently, U.S. companies have a sizeable presence in this market, followed by Japan and China.  Both federal and provincial governments’ initiatives and projects provide significant opportunities for this sector.  These include amnesty schemes for the construction sector and, medium-to-large-scale infrastructure projects (dams, road networks, and government-funded housing schemes).  Pakistan is emerging economy where metropolitan cities are shifting to advance cities and rural areas are converting to semi-urban areas.  Government-funded-housing-scheme and subsidized house loan give opportunities to the population to build their own home, that leads to boost the construction sector, and that grows the demand of architectural and decorative paint.  Some of the promising export prospects for U.S. companies include:

• Acrylic
• Alkyd
• Polyurethane
• Epoxy
• Polyester
• Other resin types
• Polishes

Resources

Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics

Pakistan Coating Association