--- title: Ignore Fujifilm's Plate Business Sale at Your Peril: 3 Supply-Chain Warning Signs for Taiwan Printers lang: en source: https://mindsprt.dev/en/knowledge/fujifilm-european-offset-plates-handover/ --- # Ignore Fujifilm's Plate Business Sale at Your Peril: 3 Supply-Chain Warning Signs for Taiwan Printers *File Preparation · 3 min read · 2026-09-16* > Fujifilm is selling its European plate production line to China's JRT. This is not just a figure buried in a far-off European financial report. It is a clear signal that the global printing-consumables market is being reshuffled. This article breaks down how the deal will affect inventory planning at small and midsize plants in Taiwan, and what procurement and prepress teams can do about it **Quick answer:** Fujifilm is handing its plate business to China's JRT, a sign that traditional printing consumables are rapidly consolidating in Asia ## Why Is Fujifilm Walking Away from the Plate Business? Margins on traditional analog printing consumables have hit bottom in the European and U.S. markets, so Fujifilm has decided to put all its resources into digital printing and packaging From closing its U.S. plant in 2022 and its Dutch plant in 2023 to formally signing an agreement in August 2026 to sell its Chinese factory and European sales rights to Chinese manufacturer JRT, Fujifilm's retreat has been decisive JRT (Huangshan Jinruitai Technology) is a Chinese printing-consumables manufacturer that has long developed thermal CTP, CTCP, and processless plates. It has end-to-end capability from R&D to mass production and has been a long-standing contract-manufacturing partner of Fujifilm Fujifilm is keeping its Japanese production lines and sales rights in Japan, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, but handing JRT the business across Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America Even Fujifilm's trademark and patent licenses in those transferred markets will go to JRT as part of the deal I've been watching them push Revoria digital presses hard in Europe, while promoting special-color toners and high-end inkjet printheads. It tells me that the competition among equipment giants is no longer about hardware specs. It is about their ability to deliver digital workflows That is much like the recent acquisition turmoil involving France's Fibre Excellence pulp mill. The capital reshuffling behind it is hard proof that traditional materials supply chains are tightening When a major player decides that analog printing consumables are a sunset industry, a decisive exit is inevitable ## What Lead-Time and Inventory Changes Should Taiwan Procurement Teams Watch For? Printers that are used to ordering Japanese brands will face a transition over the next few months as the production source shifts. Lead times will inevitably fluctuate Under the agreement, the sale of the Chinese subsidiary is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, while the transfer of business operations will take place in the first half of 2027 This six-month stretch is the key buffer period When we looked at the restructuring of Europe's recycled-pulp sector recently, we saw something similar, with deliveries slipping and shipping schedules thrown into chaos For small and midsize Taiwanese plants that rely on Japanese plates, the plates you receive from now on will effectively be made by JRT or shipped through its distribution network Whether technical support, complaint handling, and logistics services will connect smoothly through the transition is anyone's guess JRT has promised to maintain supply and technical support during the transition, but getting the two companies' ERP systems and dealer networks to work together will take time I strongly recommend that procurement managers meet with suppliers immediately, within the next two weeks, and raise the existing one-month safety stock to one and a half to two months Get through the year-end handover first. Don't gamble with the production line. Without plates, the machine is just a pile of scrap metal ## How Should Design and Prepress Teams Respond During the Plate Transition? The first priority is to reconfirm the plate's development latitude and on-press run length, so you do not lose halftone dots halfway through a job CTP (Computer-to-Plate) uses a laser to image digital files directly onto aluminum-based plates, greatly shortening the prepress workflow. If the plate's photosensitive emulsion is unstable, dot gain can get out of control If the supplier or production source changes, the color profile (ICC Profile) and dot compensation curve that the prepress team worked so hard to set up must not simply be carried over unchanged I recommend that prepress managers use "Mai Strategy's Three-Gate Print Check" for hands-on press testing 1. Before going on press, run a proof to confirm the new plate's tonal reproduction, and keep a close eye on highlight areas below 5% to see whether they drop out ## FAQ ### Who is Fujifilm selling its CTP plates to? Will the plates Taiwan buys still be Japanese-made? Fujifilm has sold its Chinese factory, patent and trademark rights, and sales rights in Asia to Chinese printing-consumables manufacturer JRT (Huangshan Jinruitai Technology). The Fujifilm plates purchased by Taiwan printers will, in practice, be produced and shipped by JRT. Fujifilm Japan will retain only its domestic and North American production lines and markets ### Will the change in ownership of Fujifilm's plates affect lead times? How much safety stock should printers hold? Because the production source, distribution channels, and ERP systems are all in transition, lead times face a high risk of fluctuation and delay. During the business handover buffer period from the end of 2026 through the first half of 2027, Taiwan printers should raise plate safety stock from 1 month to 1.5 to 2 months ### If a printer changes the plate's country of manufacture or supplier, do prepress color curves need to be recalibrated? They must be recalibrated. Do not carry over the previous ICC Profile and dot compensation curve unchanged. CTP plates from different batches or production sites have different development latitude and photosensitive emulsions. Prepress teams should run a new on-press proof to test tonal reproduction and carefully verify whether highlight areas below 5% drop out ### Why is Fujifilm exiting the traditional printing plate market? The main reason is that margins on traditional analog printing consumables have continued to sink, so Fujifilm has decided to shift its core resources entirely to digital presses and inkjet technology. After closing its U.S. and Dutch plants one after the other, Fujifilm is making a clean break with this sunset business by transferring its Chinese production line and overseas sales rights to contract-manufacturing partner JRT, so it can focus on delivering digital workflows --- > HTML version: https://mindsprt.dev/en/knowledge/fujifilm-european-offset-plates-handover/ > MINDS — 麥思印刷整合有限公司 · https://mindsprt.dev