# Paints and coatings

Paints and coatings protect and colour buildings, cars, ships and goods; a roughly $200 billion formulated-products industry built on TiO2 and oil-derived resins.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/

Specialty chemicals · Coatings, adhesives & colourants · No. 82

- Product family
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- about 50 Mt a year (indicative, basis: about $200 billion at an average of about $4/kg; no volume figure found in public sources)
- 1.8 t CO₂e per t
- HS 320890, 320990
 Specialty chemicals · Coatings, adhesives & colourants · Foundation · Matter

The biggest slice of carbon in a tin of white wall paint comes from its white pigment, titanium dioxide.

Chart: Illustration: Paints and coatings

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Paint is formulated, not synthesised: a decorative emulsion holds about 150-250 kg of titanium dioxide per tonne, bound by acrylic or vinyl polymers.

##### Three things to know

1. The top four coatings makers sell about $58 billion a year, roughly 29% of the market, led by Sherwin-Williams at $19.8 billion.
2. Birla Opus added about 31% to India's decorative paint capacity, sparking discounting and dealer incentives since 2024.
3. India has limited lead in household paint to 90 ppm since 2016, but has no binding VOC limits for decorative paint.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Raw materials**TiO2, monomers, resins, extenders, solvents
2. 2 **Resin making**Emulsions and alkyds polymerised in-house
3. 3 **Dispersion**Pigments milled into binder, then thinned
4. 4 **Tinting, retail**Sold through dealers and tinting machines
5. 5 **On surfaces**Walls, cars, ships, machines and goods
 Covered in [The chemical industry: what it makes and how it is organisedChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/chem-industry-map/)[Colour and protection: dyes, pigments, paints and coatingsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/dyes-pigments-coatings/)

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## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/links/index.md)