By protecting and beautifying the surfaces to which they are applied, paints and coatings enhance the value of everything from homes and manufactured products, to bridges and other structures.  This enhancement adds value far beyond the cost of buying or applying the paint or coating.

Practically every man-made product has a coating that is necessary to protect it and maintain its usefulness.  Primary categories of paints and coatings include the following:

Architectural Coatings

The largest segment of the paint industry consists of architectural coatings and makes up more than half of the total volume of coatings produced annually in Australia.  In 2016, the industry sold more than $1.2 billion of architectural coatings.

These products can be applied by professional trade painters to beautify and maintain the surfaces of homes, public buildings, offices and factories.
About half the market consists of “do-it-yourself” consumers, who recognise that paint is the most versatile, least costly and easiest to use of all home decorating products.

Industrial Coatings

Coatings applied at the time of manufacture of products are known as industrial coatings.  In 2016, $0.85 billion of industrial coatings were sold to customer industries.

Special Purpose Coatings

This industry segment includes a wide array of divergent coatings.  The one unifying characteristic is that these coatings tend to be “field-applied”, as opposed to being applied in a factory setting.

Special purpose coatings represent the smallest of the four major classifications of coatings.  This segment can be divided into the following major sub-segments:

• Automotive Refinish Coatings;
• Industrial Maintenance Coatings;
• Traffic Marking Paints; and
• Marine Paints.