COVID-19 Impact on Traffic Road Marking Coatings in Chemicals and Materials Industry

ANALYSIS ON IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE GLOBAL TRAFFIC ROAD MARKING COATINGS MARKET
The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the whole planet with its major impacts on the economy and businesses across the globe. The COVID-19 spread worldwide in unprecedented ways due to its high infectious and contagious nature and lack of availability of its vaccine. As a result, the greatest medical challenge in the 21st century is yet to be faced by physicians worldwide. Though the emergence of the virus can be traced back to Asia, many European countries along with the U.S. have been struck massively by the pandemic. The virus has spread across all regions ranging from North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa up to South America. The COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) due to its increased spread across the globe. After the declaration of the pandemic, various countries announced the complete lockdown such as India, China, and other Asian countries to decrease its spread. According to the situation report of 7th June, 2021 by WHO stated 174 million cases of the corona have been reported globally and 3.7 million patients are dead due to the coronavirus. On a slightly positive note, a total of 157 million people have recovered and total of 1.9 million vaccine doses have been administered as well.
Road marking is the application of paints or materials on road surfaces, streets, pavements and crossways to convey information to motorists and pedestrians. Road surface marking is a kind of coating material used on the surface of the road in order to communicate official traffic rules and regulations, commonly placed with road marking machines. The markings can also be applied in other facilities used by vehicles to mark parking spaces or designate areas for other uses.
However, the COVID-19 has negatively impacted the global traffic road marking coatings market. Due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, most of the infrastructural activities were shut down, and road painting demand was negatively impacted, affecting the production units of the road marking materials for several months, resulting in the disintegration of the global supply chain. Economic insecurity caused by the pandemic had also triggered the investors in both the public and private sectors to reconsider the investment decisions in terms of taking up new construction based projects.

IMPACT ON PRICE
The worldwide traffic road marking coatings market is extremely fragmented, with several small and big competitors competing on price and quality. Due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for traffic road marking coating products had seen a severe downfall since the month of May in 2020, resulting in the fluctuation of the prices of raw materials used for making road marking products. The rise in prices of basic construction materials caused by the pandemic, as well as a scarcity of stock with wholesalers, had posed a problem for many small and large-scale construction projects, affecting the global traffic road marking coatings market.
For Instance,
 In April, 2021, the construction industry in Germany witnessed an increase in the price of raw materials used in the construction sector by around 18%
 Hempel A/S, a global supplier of paints and coatings, has announced about the further rise in the price of the coating products due a rise in the cost of raw materials in January, 2021.
IMPACT ON DEMAND
The major sector of the traffic road marking coatings market is the infrastructural business as a major part of the demand for traffic road marking materials comes from the construction unit. The construction sector was one of the sectors that mainly suffered the burden of COVID-19. The demand for public based real estate projects was likewise sluggish, as governments of different countries prioritized the health requirements over any other developments. Furthermore, the emergence of remote based work facilities had reduced the need for office buildings along with parking lots and hence affecting the global traffic road marking coatings market negatively.
For Instance,
 According to Germany’s aggregates federation, due to the enormous drop in sales and profits experienced by some businesses as a result of the coronavirus crisis, enterprises' demand for construction works had dropped in 2020.

IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAIN
The global coronavirus pandemic had put the contemporary global supply chain to test like never before. The pandemic had a genuine global impact, causing many fractures in numerous supply chains at various fronts like such as component suppliers, production locations, and lastly to the end users. The production process came to a pause due to the shortage of labourers in almost all the manufacturing sites. Due to a ban on inter-state travel, the supply chain also suffered as a result of the emigration of migrant workers. The shutdown of distribution and trade routes has affected the supply channel badly, resulting in the rise of the operating costs of raw materials. During that situation, all the manufacturers of road marking materials were facing issues with the timely availability of raw materials.
For Instance,
 Construction material imports declined in U.K. by £997 million in Q2 2020 compared to the previous quarter, a fall of 25.3%, while construction material exports declined by £324 million, a drop of 18%, as reported by UK's building materials and components branch

AFTERMATH OF COVID-19 AND GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE TO BOOST THE GLOBAL TRAFFIC ROAD MARKING COATINGS MARKET
The government had taken many steps to ensure the availability of raw materials by keeping a track on the supply and demand of the intermediate goods for producing road marking materials. Moreover, the government of various countries is also taking action like providing subsidy for raw materials, supporting the domestic producers with short-term loans to assist SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and local manufacturers engaged in the production of traffic road marking materials.
For instance,
 The Government of India intends to construct green infrastructure in order to balance environmental efficiency with energy conservation, fuelling the demand of traffic road marking coatings products.
Such initiatives can help restore the market growth of the global traffic marking coatings market.

STRATEGIC DECISIONS FOR MANUFACTURERS AFTER COVID-19 TO GAIN COMPETITIVE MARKET SHARE
The manufacturing sector of road materials was one of the most damaged sectors during COVID-19. The coronavirus was developed in China, which is home to the vast majority of facilities supplying raw materials to various production units across the world. Several steps were taken to increase international cooperation among the countries in order to promote investments and also to improve the ease of doing business inside the nations. Moreover, various assistances were taken in terms of funds and investment for all kind of businesses in the construction industry. New and existing projects were given a kick start by inviting technological innovations supported by the government.
For instance,
 Rapid industrialization and urbanization in India, China, and other Asia-Pacific nations, together with the adoption of smart and energy-efficient technologies used for road marking purposes, have a favourable impact on traffic road marking coatings demand.

CONCLUSION
Pandemic has taken a toll on every aspect of life, including the global economy. With the significant downfalls in many sectors, a collaborative effort of government, industry players, and consumers can win the fight against COVID-19.
Traffic road marking coatings are widely utilized in the construction sector due to its numerous applications, varying from roads and highways & parking spaces to aviation sector and various institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic had caused substantial obstacles to global supply chains. Due to a dip in construction activities, the demand for road based materials had faced a sharp decline in many regions.
Repeated nationwide curfews and shutdowns continue to hamper or even halt the movement of raw materials and completed goods, causing manufacturers to suffer. Manufacturing and distribution issues were likely the most visible disturbances to all types of chemical markets. All these factors have restrained the growth of the traffic marking coatings market.
However, the government of various countries had opted for various policies in order to strengthen international partnerships, diversification of suppliers, new innovation for reducing the need for certain resources, and circular economy techniques to boost economic activities of the entire world. Read more COVID-19 Resources