Paint Prices to Skyrocket This Year – Manufacturer

Paint manufacturer Crown has warned of skyrocketing prices for paints in 2018 if the cost of acquiring raw material will not be lessened.

The company says that the prices are likely to go as high as by an additional 7 percent this year as the cost of raw materials continues to move out of hand.

According to the company, the move will see a 20-liter gallon of Crown Permacote Ultra guard which retails at 14,595 shillings shooting to 15,616 shillings, a 4-liter from 2,919 shillings to 3,123 shillings and liter from 893 to 955 shillings.

“Reason for the price increase is attributed to the rising cost of raw materials, particular titanium dioxide which is a key raw material for production,” read a statement from the company.

The company has specifically pointed out the increase in the price of titanium. Titanium used to be purchased at 2,000 dollars per tonne and it is now being purchased at 3,600 dollars per tonne.

“Titanium shortage has been on the rise due to domestic production being curtailed by stricter environmental regulations enforced by the Chinese government since 2017 with small-to-medium scale producers facing the brunt of the impact,” stated the company.

The increase in the prices of paint is set to cut across all other manufacturers given that Crown is a major player in the field.

“This will greatly affect the construction sector. Paint is part and parcel of the construction sector. It is something the sector cannot do without. What will happen if the prices will go up? The cost of construction will also go up and this will eventually be carried to the consumer,” said Evanson Kariuki, an investor and a homeowner in Kiambu County.

Tenants have also expressed fears that rent might also go up as rental apartment owners will seek to recover whatever they would have spent on “making their apartments attractive.”

“The rent will actually go up. Remember that every time a tenant moves out of a room, we have to paint it. How can we recover that money? Through hiking of the rent and that cannot be avoided,” said George Muchai, a rental apartment owner at Pangani.