The green development of the coating industry is gaining momentum; China accounts for over 60% of the world’s powder coating production

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The green development of the coating industry is gaining momentum. The 2025 Powder Coating Development Forum was held in Hefei last week. Di Zhigang, chairman of the Coatings and Painting Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society, said that powder coatings have become the direction strongly promoted by policies due to their advantages of solvent-free operation and near-zero VOC emissions. In 2024, the sales volume of thermosetting powder coatings in China increased by 6.6% compared to the previous year; China’s production accounted for over 60% of the global total for such coatings, with a significant growth trend in green coatings. 　　Di Zhigang pointed out that in recent years, China’s powder coating industry has expanded from its use in traditional fields to the development of new applications, fostering deep integration within the industrial chain as well as innovative uses for such coatings, thereby serving as a driving force behind the growth of the global coating industry. 　　Wu Xiangping, secretary-general of the Special Committee on Coating Application, said that as China’s environmental protection agencies make strenuous efforts to promote substitution at the source, strengthen control over unorganized emissions, and advance the construction of efficient pollution treatment facilities, it has become imperative to carry out comprehensive measures to reduce VOC emissions. The coating industry also adheres to the principle of \"prefer powder over water, prefer water over oil, and use oils with a higher solid content.\" It steadily encourages large, medium, and small enterprises to adopt alternative materials from the source, pushing coating factories to use powder coating methods; as a result, the market for green coatings has seen significant growth in recent years. 　　“At present, the output of powder coatings in our country accounts for about 14% of the total output of industrial coatings. Green coatings play a significant role in the overall growth of coatings, and the growth rate of powder coatings is much higher than that of other environmentally friendly coatings, indicating great market potential. ”Wu Xiangping said that the current situation of the powder coating industry can be summarized as follows: Powder coating has achieved significant results in terms of innovation in its application to aluminum profiles. New applications are continuously emerging in areas such as solar photovoltaics, new energy vehicles, aluminum furniture, building formwork, municipal engineering, and urban utilities, thereby providing continuous impetus for the development of this industry. The rapid iteration of home appliance products has led to steady growth in the market for powder coatings used in home appliances. The market for powder coatings used in outdoor leisure furniture is growing steadily. The trend of replacing traditional paints with powder coatings is accelerating in the fields of construction machinery and automobiles. The use of powder coatings in the fitness and sports industry is increasing gradually. Progress has been made in powder coating applications for building steel structures. The replacement of paints with powder coatings is now widespread in the field of colored coated sheets. Functional epoxy powder coatings are being used in an ever wider range of applications, and the prospects for powder coating entire containers are very promising. 　　Wu Xiangping further analyzed the development trends of powder coatings. The development and application of bio-based powder coatings will represent a new direction. In the fast-moving consumer goods and packaging industries, the use of bio-based materials is advancing at a rapid pace. This sector is large in scale, does not require high levels of product durability, allows products to come into direct contact with consumers, and thus has more significant social impacts. The high-temperature resistant powder coating market is performing well; there is an increasing demand for powder coatings that cure at low temperatures, while thin-coating powder coatings require coordinated efforts across the entire industry chain.