Where are paint prices headed?
Just as exterior painting season approaches the paint prices have started to crawl up. But where is this all coming from? Below are quotes from The Wall Street Journal explaining. You can read their full story here
Voracious demand from China, India and other emerging markets is boosting prices for titanium dioxide, a key ingredient in paint, just as it has for oil, copper, iron ore and fertilizer. As raw-material prices rise, manufacturers are trying to pass the added cost through to consumers, stoking inflation fears.
Painting contractors all over US have also suffered business by increased material costs.
Sherwin-Williams raised prices in its paint stores three times last year, by a total of more than 16%. House painter Aaron Obringer, who owns Precision Brush Painting in Pittsburgh, said he now pays around $25 for a gallon of basic flat interior paint, up from $20 a year or two ago. “It’s like out of control,” he said, adding that paint-store employees blamed “something going on in China.”
It is true I have seen Sherwin Williams, Benjamin More and other professional paint stores increase prices at least twice last year and once this year so far.
And the inevitable question is what can be done?
