The cost of raw materials used for manufacturing coatings has escalated significantly over the past 12 months, forcing companies like Jotun to increase prices for marine, protective and powder coatings.
Materials like epoxy, titanium dioxide and copper have risen in price by more than 20 percent over the last year, zinc metal prices have increased by more than half and polyester resins have increased substantially.
Positive economic figures from China, USA, Japan and EU has led to higher demand for some raw materials, at the same time as the supply-side has faced challenges, the company said.
We saw this trend and strived to avoid a situation where prices on our products should be affected. 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, says Geir Boe, Group Executive Vice President in Jotun Performance Coatings.
We have tried to postpone price adjustments, and we are working closely with our suppliers with an effort to reduce the effect for our customers. However, at this moment we dont see how we can absorb the cost increase anymore. We do believe that our customers will understand the situation.