A Look Inside the Michigan Factory that Makes Pigment for Yellow Road Paint

Michigan included this pigment in its Buy America rules for transportation spending last year. And bills to add it to federal rules have been introduced.

Last October, Michigan extended the Buy America laws governing its state-level transportation spending to cover the pigment that gives road markings their distinctive yellow color. That stuff comes from a Sun Chemical factory just outside of Muskegon, the only place in the United States that makes it. The state’s move to include their product in its procurement rules was a big deal for the skilled and unionized workers at that facility. Faced with stiff import competition – mostly from China, whose heavily subsidized chemical industry accounts for nearly half of global production – the Muskegon plant was operating at only 30% capacity.

Now they’ve got the wind at its back. Michigan’s 2025-26 transportation budget included nearly $2 billion for state and local road repairs. That’s not all getting spent on pigment, of course, but it does mean Sun Chemical – and any other manufacturer that gets in the game – will have a good shot at landing a reliable government procurement contract. It’s something you can build or expand a business on.

Sun Chemical would like to see its yellow road marking pigment included in federal Buy America rules, too. To that end, legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) and Tom Barrett (R-MI) and in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Jon Husted (R-OH) that would classify pigment used for roads as a construction material under the Build America, Buy America Act.

WZZM, the ABC affiliate in nearby Grand Rapids, ran a segment last week that detailed that effort while taking viewers inside the Muskegon facility to speak with workers and see some of the production process. You can watch the segment below, and read more about Michigan’s expansion of Buy America coverage to pigment here.