Jotun ‘forced to mark up product prices’
01 April 2017
Jotun, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of coatings, has increased the prices of its marine, protective, and powder coatings in the wake of a significant rise in costs of raw materials used for manufacturing coatings.
This rise over the last 12 months has affected the coatings industry worldwide, says a company official.
“We saw this trend and strived to avoid a situation that affected the prices of our products,” says Geir Boe, group executive vice president in Jotun Performance Coatings. “But when the costs of key components continue to increase significantly over time, it leaves us with no other option but to raise the prices on our affected products.”
The prices of raw materials like epoxy, titanium dioxide and copper have increased by more than 20 per cent over the past year, that of zinc metal by more than 50 per cent, and polyester resins have risen substantially too, says Jotun.
Positive economic figures from China, the US, Japan and EU has led to higher demand for some raw materials, while the supply side has faced challenges at the same time. This combination has driven marine-, protective and powder coatings cost significantly upwards.
“We have tried to postpone price adjustments, and we are working closely with our suppliers to reduce the effect on our customers. However, at this moment we don’t see how we can absorb the cost increase anymore. We do believe that our customers will understand the situation,” Boe says.
Headquartered in Norway, the Jotun Group has 63 companies worldwide.
