King and Queen Open Vietnamese Factory

King Harald cut the ribbon at the opening of the factory together with chair of the Board Odd Gleditsch dy and general manager of Jotun Vietnam Martin Chew.

King Harald and Queen Sonja played a central role in the opening of Jotun's expanded production facility in Vietnam on Friday November 5th.

King Harald cut the ribbon at the opening of the factory and Queen Sonja pressed the button initiating production. The new facility thereby received a regal start and the first tin of paint was aptly labelled Majestic, Jotun's most popular indoor paints in the East.

A number of official representatives from the Norwegian delegation to Vietnam, local authorities and a number of Jotun's customers and other business associates were present for the formal and colourful opening.

Odd Gleditsch, chairman of the board at Jotun, welcomed the royal group and all the guests and warmly thanked the King and Queen for their great interest and engagement in Norwegian companies abroad. He informed everybody that Jotun began selling paint in Vietnam as early as 1992 and in 1998 production began in Binh Dong close to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Today Jotun is the leading manufacturer of marine and protective coatings for industrial and offshore markets in Vietnam.

Gleditsch reminded people that Jotun is one of the world's leading manufacturers of powder coatings and that in the Spring Jotun Powder Coatings opened a production unit close by. This factory has also been successful.

Further, Gleiditsch dy said that an expansion of the paint factory was vital in terms of Jotun's ambitions for Vietnam as it now allowed for investment in decorative paints for the house and home. With the Multicolor system he was sure that Jotun would also be successful in this area.

Martin Chew, the local company manager informed the group that the sale of decorative paints has begun and that so far in the course of a year nearly 40 Multicolor machines have been installed in Vietnam. The expansion of the factory opens up opportunities for significant growth and following the expansion Jotun Vietnam will have a total production capacity of 13 million litres, compared with the present production capacity of 1.3 million litres. The factory will produce both waterborne and solvent-based paints.

Jotun has already supplied several prestigious buildings in Vietnam and has set up warehouses and sales offices in the important cities of Hanoi, Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City.