Scrying into the Future of the European Paint Markets

With mid-2026 just behind us, now is a good moment to reflect on the recent happenings at the top paint makers in Europe and to offer some up-to-date 2026 insights into the future of the European paint and coatings market.

So, in more detail shortly, the key areas that look good for the European sector are architectural renovation, clean energy, and marine and aerospace applications.

The Recent Past and Present

Those four segments are part of mainstream portfolios that the top paint makers in Europe have within their grasp, and their latest figures for the first half of 2026 have now been published. AkzoNobel reported a 5% decline in sales for the first six months of this year (1% decline in the second quarter), dipping interim sales to €4.97 billion. Organic sales growth amounted to 2% in that second quarter but zero across all of the first half.  Operating profits across the first half were up by 5% at €428 million and by 17% in the second quarter.

Sales growth for decorative paints in the EMEA region has been seen trailing behind that of the Latin American region (7%) and the Asian region (4%) and amounted to a 1% contraction across its home continent. Sales of paints in the DIY sector in Western Europe were down (probably a consequence of affordability of renovation projects now that the cost of living is impacting so many households), while those to the professional area increased slightly.

In AkzoNobel’s Performance Coatings operations, powder coatings performed best so far this year with 4% growth, while other divisions fared slightly less well, with marine and protective and industrial operations posting 3% declines by the end of the first half.

The company’s divestment of the bulk of its Indian operations, viz. its liquid coatings activities in India, reduced revenues by 4% and 2% in the Decorative and Performance divisions, respectively. At the bottom line, the result demonstrates a very slight decrease in net profits for the interim result, at €250 million from €256 million for the first half of 2025. Closure of its merger with Axalta Coating Systems is expected late this year or in early 2027.

At PPG Industries, the company’s total sales for the first-half periods of 2025 and 2026 amounted to US$7.87 billion and US$8.42 billion, equivalent to almost 7% growth globally. In the second quarter of 2026, its sales of Architectural Coatings operations rose to US$1,098 million from US$1,018 million for the corresponding period in 2025 (nearly an 8% increase). Similarly, for Performance and Industrial Coatings, the figures were US$ 1,619 million from US$1,512 million and US$1,778 million from US$ 1,665 million, equating to growth of nearly 7% for both in the second quarter.

The architectural coatings results bear out very similar trading patterns to those of AkzoNobel, with PPG highlighting strong growth in the Latin American region but modest growth in Europe. In the Performance Coatings sector, aerospace, marine and protective have all been good areas for PPG this year, while in Industrial Coatings, the company’s packaging coatings activities have been flourishing with double-digit growth.

Both AkzoNobel and PPG Industries are very well primed with advanced technologies for all the industries they serve, and it goes without saying that these will form the foundations of their near-term growth.

The Future: Two New Reports Give Predictions

Those topics dovetail almost seamlessly into a couple of new reports on the European paint and coatings markets that have been published this year.

According to the latest Europe-focused report, Europe Paints and Coatings Market Size & Share Analysis – Growth Trends and Forecast (2026 – 2031) by Mordor Intelligence, the European paint and coatings market will be valued at US$40.5 billion in 2026 and will grow at a rate of 2.1% p.a. to reach just over US$45 billion by 2031.

Despite the apparent relatively slow growth overall, the report highlights an interesting variety of hot prospects for the European paint and coatings sector, reflecting how the modern markets are being influenced by large-scale renovation projects and everything associated with clean energy. The report covers in detail the big five economies of Western Europe together with those of Türkiye and Russia, and then the rest of Europe collectively.

Aspects of architectural renovation within EU countries (France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Poland), which are volume-led but also technology-based, make the greatest contributions to growth in the markets over the medium-term.

Energy-related growth areas occupy the spheres of wind turbine applications and the production of electric vehicles within the major economies. Electric vehicle production is especially interesting since it shifts the pattern of coatings in use, less in the way of exterior finishing but with much greater importance for high-tech coatings for battery applications and battery encasement.

All of this translates into a strong emphasis on eco-friendly technologies such as waterborne, UV-curable powder finishing and new paint shop investments for ultra-modern finishing technologies.

It highlights an uptick in the aerospace sector with air travel picking up again and fleet owners getting on board with more maintenance and greater employment of high-tech finishing for their fleets. Alongside this, demand in the European marine sector is being driven by IMO regulations, spurring the shift to even higher-performing marine paints that have superior ecological profiles.

A different insight for Europe’s paint and coatings market is afforded by Mark and Spark Solutions, which also offers some helpful national insights. In its report published in February of this year, it values the continental market at US$44 billion, which it projects as rising to US$59 billion by 2031 – slightly ahead and slightly more optimistic than the outlook offered in the foregoing title.

This markedly includes upward pricing effects as price escalations are anticipated on the back of intense development work that reflects the cost of regulatory compliance, as well as more expensive raw materials and more specialist chemical technologies.

Other industrial areas that extend assured growth prospects include the marine and aerospace sectors where retrofitting can take place within the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) part of the market. For major marine and protective coatings suppliers in Europe, this provides a valuable and reliable cushion for MRO demand over the next few years if newbuild investment should decline. Chromate-free finishing is an important aspect here.

Finally, I’ll just add another layer for how Mark and Spark sees the European architectural sector: residential (45%) and commercial (15%) applications account for 60% of the total European paint market. The strong housing base in Europe is envisaged as providing a steady stream of renewals when householders embark on renovation projects (DIY), which offers a buffer zone when new build demand is seen falling – but only when domestic renovation projects are affordable to householders!