Coating applications, one of the major sources of industrial volatile organic compound emissions, are facing stricter industry regulations as air pollution has emerged as a major issue for the Chinese government, sources said.

The central government recently pledged 5 billion yuan ($815.5 million) as well as new policies and targets to control air pollution in major cities, including Beijing and Tianjin, by 2017.

This means that the coating industry will face higher standards, said Samir Hifri, senior vice-president of the coatings, adhesives and specialties business unit, Bayer MaterialScience, Asia-Pacific.

Hifri said Bayer welcomes such challenges, and the company will deliver innovative, environmentally and socially responsible technologies, products and processes to satisfy the market's needs.

According to the Airborne Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (2013-17), in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional cluster, concentration levels of PM2.5 particles — those smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can penetrate deep into the lungs — must be cut by 25 percent by 2017 from the 2012 level.

The Yangtze River Delta region's target is a reduction of 20 percent, and for the Pearl River Delta region, it is a 15 percent reduction.