Wet Milling Aluminium Pigments Market to Reach CAGR 7,8% by 2031 Top 10 Company Globally

Wet-milling aluminium pigments (also called aluminium flake or metallic pigments manufactured by a wet process) are specialty metallic effect pigments produced by atomizing aluminium, flaking the powder and then processing those flakes in aqueous media to give controlled particle size, morphology, surface treatment and paste or powder form for downstream use. These pigments (leafing, non-leafing, vacuum-metallized variants and water-milled grades) provide the bright metallic and pearlescent visual effects used across automotive and industrial coatings, printing inks, plastics, cosmetics and specialty packaging; they are valued both for optical performance (orientable flakes giving mirror-like reflectance) and for functional properties (thermal/reflective behaviour in cool-roof and reflective applications). The wet-milling route is widely used across the leading producers because it allows tight control of flake thickness and dispersion into pastes and pellets that are directly formulated into paints, inks and plastics.

The global aluminium pigments market in 2024 is value at USD 310 million and model a central CAGR around 7,6% to 2031. The market size in 2031 is estimated reaching USD 517 million. Continued demand from automotive metallic finishes, high-quality decorative coatings, specialty inks and plastics, and reflective/energy-saving coatings applications. Average Selling Price of USD 4200 per ton yields an implied global shipment of about 73,809 tons of aluminium pigment products in 2024.
Latest Trends and Technological Developments
The wet-milling aluminium pigment sector in 2023 to 2025 shows three near-term technical and commercial trends: ongoing product innovation for thinner, more consistent flakes and improved handling (granules/pellets), a pronounced industry push toward sustainability and lower-toxicity surface treatments, and the development of new grades tailored for aqueous systems and low-VOC formulations. A concrete recent signal is Metaflakes product introductions for water-milled aluminium pigments showcased at European Coatings Show 2025 (announced July 2025), highlighting new water-milled lines optimized for modern coatings formulations. On May 2025 ECKART presented pigment novelties at ECS 2025 that emphasize improved handling, sustainability and optical effects. Industry supplier pages and trade press in 2024 to 2025 also report modernization of wet-milling lines and new pellet/paste formats that simplify paint and ink formulation (ECKART, SCHLENK and other effect pigment specialists announced new lines and effect pigments through 2024 to 2025). Collectively these dated developments confirm vendors are investing in wet-milling refinements, pelletization and compatibility with water-borne, low-VOC coatings systems.
Asia-Pacific is the dominant regional market for aluminium pigments by volume and by growth momentum. APACs leadership is driven by several structural factors: the regions large automotive and OEM painting industries (including China, Japan, South Korea and India), a huge coatings and plastics conversion sector, and numerous local pigment producers and converters that supply both domestic and export markets. Recent global market analyses and vendor coverage show APAC capturing the largest share of demand and supply in 2024, supplying lower-cost wet-milled pigments as well as premium products from regional champions. Local wet-milling capacity often integrated with atomization and pelletizing lines gives Asian producers a cost and time-to-market advantage for regional converters and formulators. As automotive demand recovers and specialty coatings (reflective and effect finishes) grow, Asias share of demand for wet-milled aluminium pigments is expected to remain both large and growing.

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Wet Milling Aluminium Pigments by Type:
Non Leafing Pigments

Leafing Pigments

Wet Milling Aluminium Pigments by Application:
Packaging Printing

Wallpapers and Fabrics

Others

Global Top 10 Key Companies in the Wet Milling Aluminium Pigments Market
BASF

GEOTECH

Carlfors Bruk

Eckart

Siberline

Carl Schlenk

Toyal

Arcacolours

Arasan Aluminium Industries

Hangzhou Phobar Technology

Regional Insights
Within Southeast Asia the paints, coatings and packaging conversion markets are growing rapidly, and ASEAN is an important near-term market for aluminium effect pigments, especially in automotive OEM refinish, decorative architectural coatings, plastics with metallic effects and flexible packaging inks. Indonesia merits special attention: country-level coatings market reports show Indonesia anchoring a large share of ASEAN paints and coatings volume in 2024 (Mordor and GMI track Indonesia as the single largest ASEAN coatings market by volume and growth), meaning that demand for metallic and aluminium effect pigments follows construction, automotive and packaging growth in Indonesias urbanizing economy. In practice this means ASEAN demand is a mix: Singapore and Malaysia skew to premium, sustainability-certified effect pigments; Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines drive higher volume for competitively priced wet-milled flake powders and paste. Regional converters and international pigment suppliers are responding by expanding local inventory and smaller MOQ packs to serve fast-growing QSR packaging, decorative and automotive refinish channels across ASEAN.
Several structural and near-term headwinds affect wet-milled aluminium pigment economics and strategy. First, feedstock volatility and aluminium metal price swings (LME and SHFE benchmarks) feed directly into raw material cost and margin pressure. Second, regulatory and customer pressure for safer, more recyclable coatings and inks creates R&D burdensformulators want surface treatments and binders that avoid problematic chemistries while still delivering leafing behaviour and weather resistance. Third, manufacturing complexity: wet-milling, flake conditioning, passivation and pelletizing require capital-intensive plant lines with tight process controls and environmental compliance (wet effluent handling), so scaling or relocating capacity is non-trivial. Fourth, capacity and supply concentration: a relatively small group of specialist effect-pigment producers controls much of the premium VMP and cosmetic-grade business, which raises OEM switching costs but also makes the market susceptible to supply shocks. Lastly, substitution pressures from alternative metallic effect technologies (e.g., vacuum metallized pigments produced by PVD, aluminium-free pearlescent mica technologies, or nano-scale pigments) create product-development pressures for wet-milled suppliers.
The companies that will win are those that combine: effective wet-milling and pelletization technology (consistent flake geometry and low dust), diversified form-factor supply (paste, powder, pellets), validated low-VOC and water-borne compatibility, and localized logistics in Asia and ASEAN to shorten lead times for converters. Value-capture strategies include vertical integration into atomized aluminium granules (to control raw-material cost and sustainability footprint), expanding value-added services (pre-dispersion, color matching and package SKUs for small converters), and product lines designed for green formulations (improved passivation chemistries, lower environmental footprint). For investors and suppliers targeting ASEAN, lightweight local warehousing and smaller pack sizes are pragmatic differentiators that accelerate trials with regional paint and ink formulators. Strategic M&A is also commonlarge effect-pigment players expanding footprint by acquiring regional atomization or milling capacity to secure supply and serve local OEMs faster.

Product Models
Wet-milling aluminium pigments are metallic effect pigments widely used in coatings, inks, plastics, and automotive finishes. Produced through controlled milling and surface treatment, they offer unique optical effects such as brilliance, sparkle, and metallic luster.
Non-leafing pigments which disperse evenly throughout the coating film to create uniform metallic effects. Notable products include:
Silberline Sparkle Silver Silberline Manufacturing: Non-leafing aluminium pigment designed for brilliant automotive and industrial coatings.
ECKART Silvet 200 Series ECKART GmbH: Non-leafing metallic pigments with excellent brightness for paints and plastics.
Toyoshima Bright Silver Pigments Toyoshima & Co: High-quality non-leafing pigments widely used in printing inks.
Carl Schlenk Non-Leafing Aluminium Pigments Schlenk Metallic Pigments: Offers a wide portfolio for automotive, plastics, and coatings.
Toyal Non-Leafing Aluminium Pigments Toyo Aluminium K.K.: Durable pigments optimized for outdoor applications with weather resistance.
Leafing pigments which float to the surface of the coating layer to produce high-gloss, reflective finishes. Examples include:
ECKART Leafing Aluminium Paste (Stapa Series) ECKART GmbH: Leafing pigments creating high-gloss reflective finishes in coatings.
Toyal Leafing Aluminium Pigments Toyo Aluminium K.K.: Produces a silver dollar effect with high covering power.
Schlenk Leafing Pigments Schlenk Metallic Pigments: Offers leafing pigments for industrial coatings with strong reflection.
Silberline Leafing Waterborne Pigments Silberline: Leafing pigments adapted for low-VOC and waterborne coatings.
Toyal Alpaste Leafing Pigments Toyo Aluminium: Widely used in powder coatings for metallic luster and surface brilliance.

Wet-milled aluminium pigments remain a strategically important specialty-chemical category that bridges aesthetics, function and industrial performance. Using a reconciled 2024 baseline of about USD 310 million and a central CAGR near 7,6% to 2031, the markets near-term growth is driven by demand for metallic automotive finishes, reflective coatings, high-end printing inks and growing specialty uses in cosmetics and packaging. Translating revenue into physical throughput suggests an implied 73,809 tonnes in 2024 at a midpoint ASP of USD 4,200/ton. Asia-Pacific backed by robust local conversion capacity and automotive/coatings demand will remain the primary growth engine, while ASEAN offers high-growth, largely volume-driven opportunity for lower-cost wet-milled product formats and expanding converting capacity. Vendors that invest in wet-milling precision, environmentally acceptable passivation chemistries and regional logistics will be best-positioned to capture the unfolding demand.

Investor Analysis
What investors should care about is that wet-milled aluminium pigments are a recurring-revenue, industry-critical specialty with structural exposure to automotive, coatings and packaging trends. How investors can capture value is threefold: equity or growth capital in specialist pigment producers that own atomization + wet-milling + pelletizing; investments in regional converters or distributor networks in APAC/ASEAN that capture margin and accelerate product adoption; and minority stakes in enabling technologies (pelletization, pre-dispersion services, low-VOC passivation chemistries) that command premium pricing and stickiness with formulators. Why now matters is driven by a confluence of recovering automotive metallic paint demand, faster adoption of premium effect finishes in emerging APAC markets, and an industry trend toward water-borne and low-VOC systems that require new pigment compatibility. Key diligence points include verifying plant wet-milling yield, quality control at target flake thicknesses, customer concentration (large coating/OEM contracts), and the suppliers roadmap for environmentally compliant surface treatments and effluent management.
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5 Reasons to Buy This Report
It reconciles multiple market publisher estimates into a defensible 2024 baseline and models a transparent CAGR to 2031 for scenario planning.
It converts market dollars into practical tonnage and provides an ASP sensitivity range to support capacity and pricing stress tests.
It catalogues dated vendor and trade-show developments that reveal where R&D and commercialization momentum is focused.
It delivers Asia and ASEAN actionable insight demand centers, conversion capacity and Indonesia market dynamics so go-to-market and plant-siting decisions can be prioritized.
It profiles the competitive set and the most important technology differentiators that determine margin and stickiness with top formulators.
5 Key Questions Answered
What is a defensible 2024 market size for aluminium pigments and what CAGR should analys model to 2031?
What is the indicative price-per-ton range for aluminium pigment grades and what implied global tonnage did 2024 represent?
Which recent product and supplier developments signal where technical and commercial momentum is concentrated?
How do APAC and ASEAN demand structures differ and which regional strategies accelerate conversion in Indonesia and neighboring markets?
Who are the leading wet-milled aluminium pigment suppliers and what capabilities should investors prioritize for due diligence?
Chapter Outline
Chapter 1: Introduces the report scope of the report, executive summary of different market segments (by region, product type, application, etc), including the market size of each market segment, future development potential, and so on. It offers a high-level view of the current state of the market and its likely evolution in the short to mid-term, and long term.
Chapter 2: key insights, key emerging trends, etc.
Chapter 3: Manufacturers competitive analysis, detailed analysis of the product manufacturers competitive landscape, price, sales and revenue market share, latest development plan, merger, and acquisition information, etc.
Chapter 4: Provides profiles of key players, introducing the basic situation of the main companies in the market in detail, including product sales, revenue, price, gross margin, product introduction, recent development, etc.
Chapter 5 & 6: Sales, revenue of the product in regional level and country level. It provides a quantitative analysis of the market size and development potential of each region and its main countries and introduces the market development, future development prospects, market space, and market size of each country in the world.
Chapter 7: Provides the analysis of various market segments by Type, covering the market size and development potential of each market segment, to help readers find the blue ocean market in different market segments.
Chapter 8: Provides the analysis of various market segments by Application, covering the market size and development potential of each market segment, to help readers find the blue ocean market in different downstream markets.
Chapter 9: Analysis of industrial chain, including the upstream and downstream of the industry.
Chapter 10: The main points and conclusions of the report.

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