Vol. XI No. 5
September / October 2017
Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost & Wood Pellet Producers www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com
NEWS
Colorant Manufacturers Help Brighten the World By P.J. Heller
W
hen the Eastman Kodak Company introduced Kodachrome film in 1935, it changed the way the people worldwide looked at films and images, from a black-and-white view to a palette of vivid colors. A similar eye-popping experience occurred in 1954 with the introduction of color television. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the outdoors began taking on new vibrant hues, as mulch manufacturers began offering colored mulches, thanks in large part to the work of colorant companies. “The colorants have helped the mulch producers increase their profits, which has allowed them to sell a more diverse product line into the market than what they could with just natural mulch,” notes Kent Rotert, business manager for Colorbiotics. Today there are at least 11 companies manufacturing colorants for the mulch industry, including a handful that also produce their own mulch and soil products. Some in the industry say that with more competition has come increased pricing pressure to retain market share and that
Photo courtesy of BASF Corp.
consolidation is likely in the future, if it’s not happening already. “It’s become really, really competitive,” says Tom Flemming, president of Earth Shades. “Personally I think the colorant side is getting ripe for consolidation.” Another factor that could affect colorant sales in the future is if mulch manufacturers continue to face a dwindling supply of raw materials. Colorant manufacturers say that while the
market remains good, it is not growing as fast as it has in the past. The general consensus is that colored mulch — both bagged and bulk — far outsells uncolored mulch, with some estimates as high as 80 percent for colorized packaged products and 75 percent for colorized bulk products. Most colorant manufacturers market a wide variety of hues based on standard black, brown, gold and red colors; some have different product lines of the same colors. Although trends can change, black tends to be most popular in the Northeast, browns in the Midwest, and reds and golds in the South, according to those in the industry. In addition to selling to commercial mulch producers, some colorant manufacturers offer products for landscapers and homeowners who may want to spruce up existing mulch. Some colorant manufacturers also offer equipment to color mulch; an equipment story is planned for an upcoming issue of Soil & Mulch Producer News. The following companies are among those offering colorants to the mulch industry: Continued on page 3
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