The surge in home and garden renovation projects and the consequent demand for timber products during the months of the pandemic has been well documented in the pages of TTJ and by the national media, so it’s probably no surprise that the wood coatings and finishes sector has ridden the same wave.
In fact, from mid-2020 onwards, coatings and finishes companies have witnessed unprecedented demand for their products.
AkzoNobel, for example, which includes Sikkens and Dulux in its brands, saw an encouraging upturn in demand at the end of 2020, which continued throughout 2021.
“We are now experiencing extremely high levels of demand as the market recovers,” said Steven Sternberger, segment director wood coatings, adding that the company sees no signs of a reduction in the need for large, mixed-use building structures and corresponding woodworking items.
AkzoNobel supplies its industrial wood coatings and adhesives via distributors and direct to customers, with direct supply being the major route and said that continuity of supply and high levels of service had been key during the pandemic.
“All sectors of the coatings industry saw extreme global raw material shortages and potential supply disruptions in 2021,” said Mr Sternberger. “We have been able to manage our supply chain through our relationships with suppliers and customers alike. We are now seeing a more stable supply chain and look forward to further improvements this year.”
Teknos GBI also cited raw material shortages as a challenge during 2021, but one that it had met.
“Thanks to the support and understanding from our customers, 2021 was a successful year for us,” said Jon Mears, Teknos GBI marketing manager.
“Throughout the year demand exceeded supply. This is in large part due to the global raw material shortages which caused stock challenges. But our recovery has been strong and we are optimistic going into 2022.”
He added that the industrial wood market is still core to Teknos GBI and that protecting that business had been a priority during the pandemic.
The professional decorator market continues to be a focus for Teknos and the company aims to continue to grow its distributor network and build brand awareness during 2022. The number of independent decorating merchants stocking Teknos products across the UK and Ireland has increased to 27, up from 24 a year before.
“We will continue to grow this number slowly, yet deliberately,” said Mr Mears. “Ensuring excellent customer service and support is paramount to us, so we are careful to select stockists who share our values.”
Remmers UK also saw an increase in demand following the initial drop in sales at the first lockdown of 2020. In particular, it saw an increase in demand for its brush applied coatings.
The company, whose route to market is predominantly to the end users – mainly window and door manufacturers – said it is also increasing its online presence and with specialist distributors.
“Our wood coatings division is still a very strategic part of our organisation and continues to grow year-on-year,” said Paul Scott, industrial wood coatings divisional manager at Remmers UK.
Finishes specialist Osmo also experienced sales growth in 2021 and noted that the biggest growth was from its online resellers.
“Although, we have continued to establish growth in opening more new high street accounts, too, which again shows greater brand awareness from both retail and trade wanting to source Osmo products,” said Paul Thompson, Osmo sales director.
Netherlands-based Anker Stuy, which set up its UK sales and distribution base in 2019, agreed that 2021 had been “a dramatically improved year”.
“We have about doubled our turnover,” said Dave Christie, general manager at Anker Stuy Coatings UK. “There was no slowdown [in 2021] whatsoever, apart from December, but even that was reasonable.”
The company’s main market is the joinery sector and Mr Christie agreed that the renovation boom had made its mark.
“Much of the timber window industry focuses heavily on domestic and there has been a lot of money spent on self-build and refurbishment projects in 2021. It’s had a great knock-on effect for us.”
He added that the raw materials shortage had had an impact but that Anker Stuy had dealt with the challenge well and that it had been able to continue supply to all its customers without interruption.
The company expects the UK business to account for “well over 5%” of its total turnover this year and has a longer term target of 15%, based on the pipeline of potential customers, including some of the major joinery companies.
“We are doing very well acquiring the business of lots of smaller customers,” said Mr Christie. “The bigger ones take more time and then of course there is a step change in business as you acquire larger accounts. We are working on several of those and it’s going very well.”
Anker Stuy is strongest in its exterior products and while it is still developing interior coatings as the market becomes more and more receptive to water-borne products, it doesn’t see this emphasis changing.
“We don’t really have a business model for the interior coatings market at the moment,” said Mr Christie. “It is dominated by small kitchen door manufacturers and they require a lot of small amounts of product and bespoke colour changes all the time. It is dominated by smaller, local distribution chains and there is a huge amount of competition in that arena.”
AkzoNobel, on the other hand, has a fairly even split between its interior and exterior coatings across the globe – with regional strengths.
“The diversity gives a welcome mix to our business,” said Steven Sternberger. “The contrast in business regarding the UK and Scandinavia is a good example of regional diversity – with our key UK customers focusing on interior coatings, whereas our key Scandinavian customers focus on exterior coatings.”
Exterior wood coatings continue to outweigh interior at Teknos GBI, although the company noted that both markets were buoyant, which was very encouraging. It did, however, row back on its portfolio for interior wood coatings, which had a soft launch back in 2020.
“We made the strategic decision to reduce our focus on interior work in 2021 in order to protect the core of our business [exterior wood],” said Jon Mears. “This is still very much a market we intend to grow in, though and we will look to allocate more resources to it in 2022.”
Remmers UK also reported a larger presence in the exteriors market but said its interiors market was growing “thanks to new innovative technology”.
Meanwhile, Osmo’s top selling product in 2021 was an external finish, although Paul Thompson said that “overall, there is still higher demand for the interior, based on our top 30 selling products”.
Customers’ demands and expectations haven’t changed a great deal over the last year – although the relatively new global focus on anti-bacterial/anti-virus products has perhaps sharpened.
“The awareness of continued hygiene and cleanliness has become very apparent to us all,” said Mr Sternberger. “At AkzoNobel, we believe the role that an anti-bacterial additive plays when combined with a surface-applied coating is interesting and there is certainly no substitute for proper hygiene practices and a surface made ‘easy clean’ by a robust coating system.”
Other areas of focus for AkzoNobel include indoor air quality – which it addresses with its formaldehyde-free range – fire retardants and UV curing systems, alongside waterborne technology, both in 1K and 2K forms, and carbon footprint reduction.
“Our substantial R&D investment reflects the changing needs of the customer,” said Mr Sternberger. “We believe the market in general is broadly responsive to the concept of indoor air quality and this welcomed awareness will continue to grow as the topic gains popularity.”
Paul Scott, at Remmers, also cited the steady decline of solvent-based coatings, saying that customers wanted “simplistic application with innovative qualities and a strong emphasis on water-based technology”. He added that Remmers’ water-based range was its most popular, especially Aqua Stop topcoats for external application.
Meanwhile Dave Christie at Anker Stuy said that “durability, guarantees and longevity” were on customers’ wish lists.
He added that, of course, customers also want “lovely aesthetics – they often look for as much transparency as possible”.
Ease of application and drying times are also at the top of the list.
“Factories and industrial users are definitely looking for quick drying times – and private individuals are looking for it as well because they have less time and don’t want paints to take ages to dry.”
And speed of application is also important. “We get a lot of business from decorators and they used to use brushes but have cottoned on to the fact that spray painting is the way to deliver results quickly and to a high quality.”
As for Osmo, Paul Thompson says its customers want “a natural base finish that provides the highest performance with the lowest maintenance, and low VOC.”
Its top seller is its UV Protection Oil, “probably because it’s a clear coating which has a UV filter to delay the onset of the wood turning silver without the use of pigments”.
Having said that, Mr Thompson added that sales of pigment versions found in the UV Protection Oil Tints range have also grown. “The pigmented products will increase the longevity and extend the maintenance intervals,” he said.
Last year saw the launch of a new water-based opaque finish, Garden Colour and two new colours added to the UV Protection Oil Tints.
As for new products for 2022, Osmo is keeping its cards close to its chest but says it has “huge plans which should enable greater market share in the pigmented finish arena, especially for external products”.
While clear products are still requested the most, Osmo is currently working on more natural colour shades in its external opaque range, Country Colour, to mirror the paint industry.
Remmers has been working on “several new exciting projects which will be released in quarter one”, and Teknos GBI is also promising new releases this year.
“Due to the raw material shortages we decided to postpone new product launches [in 2021] and focus on our core portfolio,” said Jon Mears. “This means we have a busy 2022 lined up with lots of new products. Watch this space.”
For AkzoNobel, its Sikkens Wood Coatings brand tops its sales in the UK, with customers “reassured by the brand’s extensive history and experience in developing high performing, durable systems”.
Its RUBBOL 100% UV cured range was successfully launched last year and targeted at “customers looking for new possibilities to advance their wood window manufacturing processes, by using instant drying solutions that provide shorter production times, increased capacity and energy savings”.
And the company will keep up the momentum in 2022 with its new CETOL range, including CETOL WF 98xx, a translucent range of waterborne single pack top coats for wooden windows, doors and claddings, which the company says provides “excellent application properties, transparency and high durability. This range is suitable for all kinds of woods, giving a high-quality surface and a great look and feel to any wooden doors, joinery or cladding, whilst delivering no dirt pick-up and excellent levelling”. The range was tested under AkzoNobel’s global weathering programme.
Another product in the new range is CETOL WM 6900 – translucent waterborne single pack midcoats for wood species prone to bleeding. Suitable for components made of hardwood and softwood, with versions for dipping and flow coat (CETOL WM 6900-02) or spray (CETOL WM 6900-03) application. CETOL WM 6900 gives good isolating properties against discolouring tannin extracts, without addition of heavy metals.
Also in the range is CETOL WM 6100 – translucent waterborne single pack midcoats “offering a long-lasting, high performing solution and demonstrating excellent transparency (crystal clear), superior pore filling, and unprecedented sandability with minimised risk of sanding through for a silky-smooth surface”.
Anker Stuy’s top selling products are its Hydrolux programme and Wood Stain TP.
“The Hydrolux sales have expanded and have become a higher proportion of our sales than they even were before,” said Dave Christie. He added that sales of Wood Stain TP had been hampered slightly by timber supply shortages affecting the cladding sector but that he anticipated an improvement in 2022.
The Hydrolux products – fast drying, high quality paints for windows and doors – have been improved and the range expanded.
“We have developed a thicker product that goes on at a much higher film build and we have also developed a product that works on a much wider range of timber species,” said Mr Christie. “Some timber is rich is tannins, which can stain paint finishes, so we have come up with an isolation primer – Hydrolux Isoprimer.”
When it comes to trends in terms of colours and types of finish, Mr Christie says he’s seen a slight upturn in stain finishes recently but that opaque paint finishes remain more popular, accounting for up to 80% of Anker Stuy UK’s work.
As for colours, Anker Stuy offers matches to the main “trendy colour ranges” and says this is expanding all the time.
“It is a very bespoke requirement and there is such a wide variety of different colours that people want,” said Mr Christie. “Our library of colours over the last year has probably quadrupled over what we made in 2020.”
For Teknos, grey has been a popular choice for several years and the “flawless spray finish” has been preferred,” said Mr Mears.
“However, there is a growing demand for warmer colours and a traditional brushed finish, especially for interiors. We expect this to grow over the coming year.”
Grey shades have also dominated the market for Remmers, along with pastel shades. “And dead matt and low gloss systems are growing in popularity,” said Paul Scott.
Osmo says it is seeing a shift from the traditional clear oils that are associated with deepening the colour of wood, to its products “that stop the ‘ambering’ of wood and produce an untreated, minimal colour change in the appearance”.
“This has been introduced into our Polyx/ TopOil/DoorOil and UV Protection Oil product range,” said Mr Thompson.
And, at AkzoNobel, the dedicated global colour and design team for wood coatings has worked to create “unique complementary aesthetic wood coatings finishes for furniture, cabinetry, flooring and building products”. It has identified a trend for less distressing, a preference for less grey and more colour, the growing popularity of natural designs and smoother wood, such as birch, cherry, burl, walnut and maple.
“Consumers are also opting for organic elements, such as rattan, jute, sisal and stone, while moving away from pale and desaturated furnishings,” said Mr Sternberger. “We always consider the latest trends for coatings development and our highly trained technical service and global colour and design teams work closely together to ensure our finishes are robust but also can be industrialised across the globe.”
