HZ info:On December 2, Jotun Group signed agreements in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou, for two major projects: a new plant for 200,000 tons of high-performance coatings per year and a liquid coatings R&D center-5. The total investment for the project reaches USD 330 million, with fixed-asset investment alone exceeding USD 230 million. Upon reaching full production capacity, the annual output value of Jotun's Zhangjiagang production base is projected to hit RMB 10 billion. This base will consequently become Jotun Group's largest production base and a key R&D center globally.

Despite intensified challenges in the global coatings market, Jotun Group achieved steady growth in the first eight months of 2025. Its latest financial report shows group revenue reached NOK 22.998 billion (approximately RMB 16.44 billion), a year-on-year increase of 2%. All business divisions and regions contributed to positive growth, with particularly strong performance in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia.

Against a backdrop of geopolitical instability and challenging markets, our 7% volume growth is encouraging, said Morten Fon, President and CEO of Jotun Group. We are growing faster than our competitors and continuously gaining market share.

The report specifically highlighted that the high activity in Northeast Asian shipyards is a key driver for the growth in its marine coatings sales, with regional shipbuilding capacity currently at its peak.

Jotun formally entered the mainland China market in the 1990s. Through over two decades of systematic development, it has established a complete in-China system covering R&D, production, sales, and service. Currently, Jotun operates six subsidiaries in mainland China, with two major production bases in Zhangjiagang and Qingdao, supported by seven offices, one R&D center, and one training center, covering six major regions nationwide.

Among these, the Zhangjiagang base, as Jotun's first production site in China, is the core of its strategic layout. The base was completed and put into operation in 2006, initially producing decorative paints, marine coatings, and other core products. A powder coatings factory was added in 2012, gradually transforming the site from a single factory into an integrated production base, laying the groundwork for subsequent scaled development. To further strengthen local innovation capabilities, Jotun relocated its China Regional R&D Center to the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone Science and Technology Innovation Park in 2024. The upgraded R&D center is equipped with 18 types of specialized powder coatings R&D equipment and is currently focusing on developing cutting-edge products like specialized insulating coatings for new energy vehicle battery packs.

Facing the Chinese coatings market's transition towards a new phase of high-quality and differentiated competition, Jotun's recent investment focus has shifted from pure capacity expansion to the in-depth upgrading and empowerment of its existing system. In 2025, besides the newly landed projects, Jotun also advanced an RMB 170 million warehouse and logistics upgrade project and an RMB 13 million expansion project for new energy fire-resistant coatings targeting electric vehicle batteries. Furthermore, Jotun plans to invest RMB 25.2 million to expand marine coatings capacity at its Qingdao base and has developed an automation upgrade blueprint towards 2030 to consolidate its 16-year leadership in the Chinese marine coatings market.

This investment was foreshadowed. On November 19, 2025, Odd Gleditsch, Jr., Chairman of Jotun Group's Board of Directors, led board members on a visit to Zhangjiagang. Local government officials fully affirmed Jotun's stable operations over 21 years as a benchmark foreign-funded enterprise and expressed support for its continued investment. These moves clearly indicate that Jotun is actively responding to the Chinese coatings market's shift towards high-quality, differentiated competition by strengthening local R&D and high-end manufacturing.

The Chinese marine coatings market is experiencing rapid development alongside the booming shipbuilding industry. According to data from ibuychemResearch Institute, the market size surged from RMB 8 billion in 2020 to RMB 15.7 billion in 2024, with an average annual growth rate as high as 20.3%, far exceeding the global level. Market demand in 2024 is estimated at about 1.08 million tons, showing strong growth momentum.

In the Chinese marine coatings market, COSCO Jotun (Jotun brand) holds a leading position with approximately 21.0% market share. Its domestic annual capacity is about 162,000 tons, with a product line covering six major categories including acrylic, epoxy resin, alkyd resin, olefin resin, polyurethane resin coatings, and thinners. Particularly in the Yangtze River Delta region, a hub for high-end shipbuilding, Jotun, as one of the dominant players, further solidifies its core position in the high-end market. This region accounts for nearly half of the domestic market share.

The market exhibits a highly concentrated competitive landscape. Hempel ranks second with a 16.5% share, followed closely by International Paint (13.5%), Chugoku Marine Paints (11.0%), and PPG Industries (9.0%), together forming the main competitive landscape.

Unlike the previous gradual penetration into the low-end market, domestic companies' moves this year have focused more on overcoming core technical barriers, obtaining access to the high-end market, and making forward-looking capacity layouts, demonstrating a clear determination to move up the industrial value chain. Marked by companies like FURI obtaining factory recognition from the China Classification Society (CCS) and Mega P&C securing the challenging DNV antifouling paint certification, domestic firms are systematically gaining qualifications for the high-end market.

After breaking through certification barriers, domestic companies are translating technological strength into market achievements through major investments and commercial contracts. Zhejiang Caibao New Materials announced an investment of RMB 1.08 billion to build an annual 30,000-ton environmentally friendly marine coatings project. Xiamen Sunrui successfully supplied all coatings for four 18,500-ton chemical tankers, achieving a breakthrough in batch supply for high-end specialty vessels. Shandong Qilu Paint Industry also planned an annual 100,000-ton capacity for waterborne marine anti-corrosion coatings in its new project. Additionally, companies like Beixin Dengta are carving out differentiated market paths through innovative service models.

From the Coatings Intelligent Manufacturing Conference in Zhangjiagang to the Shanghai International Maritime Exhibition, "greening, intelligence, and high-end" have become the unequivocal consensus. With alternative fuel vessels surpassing half of all global new ship orders, the green revolution downstream is powerfully driving upstream technological upgrades in the coatings industry, accelerating evolution towards low-carbon, drag-reducing, and long-lasting protection.

Against this backdrop, Jotun's newly added 200,000-ton high-performance coatings capacity will significantly reshape the competitive landscape by strengthening supply chain and cost advantages: For foreign peers, this move directly raises the industry barrier, potentially forcing competitors like PPG Industries and Akzo Nobel to follow up with investments or seek differentiation to maintain share. For domestic brands, it simultaneously exerts pressure and points the way—on one hand, its high-end expansion may solidify the existing stratification of "foreign brands dominating the high-end," while on the other, it clearly reveals that only solid R&D, smart manufacturing, and comprehensive solution capabilities can lead to a genuine high-end breakthrough.