Fujifilm has sold off its Chinese plate manufacturing business – Fujifilm Printing Plate (China) Co Ltd – to Huangshan Jinruitai Technology Co, which is also known as Jinruitai or JRT plates, and which has been a long-term partner of Fujifilm.
This sale has been rumored for several months and follows an announcement last month that Fujifilm is exploring options to partially spin off its Business Innovation division, which covers all of Fujifilm’s printing activities, including both office and professional. Fujifilm’s statement makes it clear that the sale of its Chinese plate business is part of this.
The deal involves all equity interests in Fujifilm Printing Plate (China) held by Fujifilm (China) Investment. It includes everything related to the sale and manufacturing of printing plate materials, as well as granting licenses to use product brands and certain intellectual property rights, including patents.
Naturally, neither side has disclosed the sale price or any other conditions. The sale itself was signed on 28 August 2026 but only made public yesterday, on the 9th September. The transfer of all equity interests in Fujifilm Printing Plate (China) should be completed by the end of 2026, while the transfer of the sales and related business functions for printing plate materials is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2027.
Fujifilm noted that after this transaction “the consolidation and optimization of global production sites for printing plate materials will be further accelerated, with manufacturing operations concentrated in Japan.” Fujifilm shut down its European plate manufacturing lines at Tilburg in the Netherlands in 2023, having already ceased US plate manufacturing a year earlier. But Fujifilm will continue to sell plates into the Japanese market as well as the US, Canada and Mexico, with these regions all specifically excluded from the sale to JRT Plates. Aside from these four regions, Jinruitai will assume the entirety of Fujifilm Business Innovation’s printing plate manufacturing, sales, and associated business functions.
According to a statement from Fujifilm, although it is still assessing the financial impact of this transaction, the revenues from the Chinese plate manufacturing business that is being sold accounted for less than 1.0 percent of the company’s consolidated revenue in the most recent fiscal year. The statement went on to say that the operating profit of the business is immaterial in comparison with Fujifilm’s consolidated operating profit.
Naoki Hama, president and representative director of Fujifilm Business Innovation, commented, “Fujifilm Business Innovation is accelerating its transformation toward a solutions-driven business model and strengthening its business foundation to support the next stage of growth.”
He continued, “As part of our ongoing efforts to achieve sustainable growth and enhance corporate value, today’s announced optimisation of our production and sales structure for printing plate materials will further strengthen our competitiveness. We will continue striving to be a company of choice for our customers and the market.”
Essentially, this optimisation means that Fujifilm is ditching conventional printing to concentrate on digital print as the main growth area. That mostly appears to mean software, electrophotography and some niche inkjet applications.
For its part, Huangshan Jinruitai Technology was founded in 2006 and is based in Huangshan City in Anhui Province, which lies in China’s eastern industrial heartland. The management team is led by CEO Weng Hongyang. For now, the company specializes in the R&D and production of digital offset printing plates, in particular thermal CTP plates, CTcP plates, double- and triple-layer coating plates, low-chemical plates, and process-free plates. It has four high-speed automated production lines, with two in the Huangshan base and two more at a site in Changxing in Huzhou.
However, Jinruitai has positioned this transaction as a “key milestone” in its global development strategy, calling it “a significant step in strengthening its international market presence and competitiveness.” The deal will allow Jinrutai to expand its sales across major markets, including Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. In a press release, the company has said that it “will also integrate international customer resources, sales channels, technical expertise, and operational systems to establish a more comprehensive global business platform and improve its ability to serve customers worldwide.”
The statement went on to promise business continuity to customers while also leveraging synergies to improve products, services and price competitiveness. Jinrutai also promised to increase R&D investment and, amongst other things, to “actively advance digital transformation by exploring the application of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data in R&D, smart manufacturing, quality management, supply chain coordination, and customer service.” In other words, its ambitions go beyond merely selling printing plates.
You can find further details on Fujifilm at fujifilm.com and on Jinrutai at jrtplate.com.
