Recently, the 2nd China Furniture Coatings Summit was grandly held in Shunde, Foshan, reputed as the Hometown of China’s Coatings. A highlight roundtable forum themed How to Achieve Rapid Growth for Furniture UV Coatings was organized. Hosted by Zou Xianbin, General Manager of Qiaotu Machinery, the forum gathered leaders from four benchmark enterprises specializing in furniture UV coatings: Qiu Renchao, Deputy General Manager of Bangfu; Wang Xiangbin, Chairman of Fengchen; Yang Jie, General Manager of Biaofu; and Huang Jianfeng, General Manager of Huaxuan. Drawing on years of practical experience, the guests shared actionable strategies to break free from homogeneous competition and realize large-scale growth from five perspectives: technological upgrading, product segmentation, on-site application, industrial chain collaboration and market segmentation, providing replicable solutions for the whole industry to unlock growth potential.
Currently, customized home furnishing, solid wood home decoration, panel furniture and high-end solid wood furniture sectors are accelerating the upgrade of automated production lines. Top home furnishing brands including Oppein, Sofia and Shengxiang have fully adopted automated UV coating lines, driving upstream coating suppliers to speed up the replacement of oil-based products. The shift from traditional PU oil-based coatings to UV coatings has become an irreversible trend.Data indicates that UV products account for over 22% of total revenue for mainstream furniture coating companies. Specialized UV brands such as Bangfu, Biaofu and Fengchen each achieve annual sales exceeding 100 million RMB for UV coatings alone, while UV-related revenue takes up more than 60% of total business for some leading enterprises.
As a national Specialized, Refined, Differential and Innovative "Little Giant" enterprise and hidden champion, Bangfu has focused on UV coatings for 18 years, owning four production bases at home and abroad in Changsha, Xinfeng and Vietnam. It ranks among the top domestic suppliers of UV floor coatings, holding more than 100 patents including 72 invention patents and 9 international patents. Its products are supplied to Shengxiang and leading manufacturers of home appliance interior parts, setting a benchmark for technology-driven growth.
Qiu Renchao put forward a three-step growth strategy: technology empowerment, scenario segmentation and industrial chain integration.
- Iterate core formulas to break application barriers. Leveraging self-developed PUV sealing reinforcing agent (winner of the First Prize of China Wood Industry Science and Technology Invention), EB electron beam curing UV and digital 3D-UV technologies, the company solves problems of poor adhesion on high-oil wood and incomplete curing on irregular parts. Its dual-curing UV series enables full UV coating for solid wood, panels and carved workpieces, converting the partial UV & PU market into pure UV market. The digital 3D-UV solution also addresses the demand for small-batch customized products, opening up a new growth track for high-end customized furniture.
- Shift from single product supply to integrated coating solutions. Moving beyond the traditional product-only sales model, Bangfu cooperates with equipment and substrate manufacturers to provide one-stop packages combining coatings, UV equipment and process commissioning. It also launches lightweight UV line solutions for factories of different sizes, greatly cutting transformation costs. In the past two years, the company has partnered with over 300 new furniture manufacturers via integrated solutions, achieving a 42% year-on-year growth in low-tier markets.
- Expand to emerging tracks beyond traditional furniture coatings. Based on mature UV curing technologies, the company steps into automotive interior panels, energy storage enclosures and 3C plastic parts, creating a second growth curve. Its industrial UV business has maintained an average annual growth rate of over 35% in the past three years.
2. Fengchen | Wang Xiangbin: Brand Portfolio & In-depth Segmentation to Achieve Growth in Both Sales and Profit
With a 33-year heritage in furniture coatings, Fengchen Chemical operates four brands: Fengchen, Fengye, Xinlang and Fengzhen. It entered the UV sector in 2019, and its monthly UV output has exceeded 400 tons within just a few years. Even amid the industry downturn in 2023, the company achieved a 32% revenue growth, thanks to precise segmentation and multi-brand layout.
Chairman Wang Xiangbin shared the core growth approaches: avoid homogeneous competition via full-category layout, divide markets with multi-brand positioning, and explore growth potential from niche segments.
- Segment markets via differentiated brand positioning. Fengzhen targets high-end UV coatings for premium solid wood customized furniture; Fengye provides cost-effective UV products for panel furniture in low-tier markets; Xinlang specializes in UV coatings for plastic furniture. Differentiated pricing, formulas and positioning help the company secure high-profit high-end markets as well as massive demand from small and medium factories, eliminating internal price competition.
- Tap potential from niche products. Moving away from the red ocean of conventional large-size furniture, Fengchen develops customized flexible UV formulas for small wood products such as clothes hangers, tabletop accessories, art crafts and bent wood pieces, solving problems of veneer cracking and poor edge curing. Its exclusive formulas help it dominate niche markets, bringing an annual revenue increase of over 10 million RMB from small categories.
- Upgrade products to follow consumption trends. Catering to youth-oriented home decoration, Italian minimalist and Japanese-style furnishing trends, the company develops soft-touch matte UV and high-transparency log-style UV coatings, driving repeat purchases and product upgrades from existing clients.
3. Biaofu | Yang Jie: Rooted in Shunde Industrial Cluster, Focus on Veneer UV & Drive Regional Growth via Localized Services
Having been based in Shunde, the renowned coating hub, for 18 years, Biaofu is a leading supplier of solid wood veneer UV coatings in South China and a national high-tech enterprise. It specializes in R&D of flexible veneer UV coatings and LED cold light UV coatings. Taking advantage of thousands of local furniture manufacturers, Biaofu expands its business nationwide, serving as a typical example of growth for region-focused professional UV enterprises.
Yang Jie believes that specialized segmentation is more effective than full-category expansion, and in-depth localized service within industrial clusters is the optimal path for small and medium UV suppliers.
- Focus on veneer UV to build irreplaceable competitiveness. After two years of R&D, Biaofu developed dedicated flexible veneer UV coatings to solve the long-standing problems of cracking during bending and in low-temperature environments. It has become a top supplier for major furniture manufacturers in Shunde, Nankang (Jiangxi) and Linyi (Shandong). Its LED-compatible UV coatings cut energy consumption by 50% compared with traditional mercury lamp UV systems, encouraging clients to fully upgrade production lines for cost reduction.
- Full-cycle on-site technical services to lower transformation risks. Biaofu sets up a professional team of coating engineers to provide free on-site factory surveys, process optimization and production line renovation services for local small and medium furniture factories, and follow up the whole transition from PU to UV coatings. Nearly 100 local factories complete UV transformation every year, bringing steady new orders.
- Promote joint development with upstream and downstream partners in Shunde. The company unites local resin suppliers and coating equipment manufacturers to establish a green coating alliance, launching cost-effective packages combining economical UV production lines and matching coatings for small factories, accelerating UV penetration in regional markets.
4. Huaxuan | Huang Jianfeng: Full-category Collaboration & National Network to Convert Existing PU Clients into New Growth Sources
Founded in 2001 and located in Heshan, Guangdong, Huaxuan Coatings runs two production bases in Heshan and Zhaoqing with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons and over 150 sales outlets nationwide. With more than 20 years of experience in PU coatings, the company steadily converts its long-term oil-based coating clients to UV products, standing as a model for traditional wood coating manufacturers transforming into UV business. All its products have passed regular sampling inspections with zero non-conformity for consecutive years, and obtained authoritative environmental certifications including China Ten-Ring Label, RoHS and SGS.
Huang Jianfeng stated that converting existing clients is the most cost-effective way to boost UV sales, and phased upgrade with combined PU & UV products is the key.
- Empower distributors to promote UV products. Huaxuan provides free UV technical training, sample support and marketing assistance for over 150 national distributors, together with exclusive incentive policies, guiding distributors to shift focus from PU to UV products and expand business to county-level furniture industrial parks nationwide.
- Phased upgrade solutions to ease clients’ financial pressure. The company recommends a step-by-step plan: replace primer with UV first, then upgrade topcoat gradually. Factories do not need to renovate all production lines at once, which greatly relieves their concerns. Over 60% of long-term clients have completed UV transformation in the past three years, generating substantial new orders.
- Improve product portfolio via industry-university-research cooperation. Partnering with School of Materials Science of South China University of Technology and Jiangnan University, Huaxuan optimizes water-based UV and two-component UV products, completing its full product lineup covering low-end panel furniture to high-end solid wood furniture and plastic products to meet diversified client demands.
III. Industry Consensus from Four Brands: Four Universal Strategies for Large-scale UV Coating Growth
At the end of the roundtable, the four enterprise leaders summarized four practical and universal strategies to help the industry break away from vicious competition and achieve steady growth:
- Abandon low-price competition and take the differentiated development path. Low-quality low-price UV products will only damage market credibility. Future growth lies in segmented and functional products. Small and medium coating enterprises are advised to focus on one niche area such as veneer, floor, small wood crafts or plastic furniture, develop exclusive formulas and build product barriers. Leading enterprises can invest in cutting-edge products like EB curing, bio-based UV and low-temperature LED UV coatings to seize the high-end customized and industrial coating markets.
- Transform from single coating sales to integrated solutions combining coatings, technology and equipment. Simply selling coatings can no longer drive growth. Coating enterprises shall cooperate with equipment manufacturers to provide tailored solutions for large, medium and small factories respectively, including fully automatic high-end UV lines, lightweight roller coating lines and small-batch curtain coating renovation plans, simplifying equipment selection and process commissioning for clients and unlocking huge potential in low-tier markets.
- Prioritize converting existing clients over blindly developing new ones. Traditional PU coating enterprises own abundant existing furniture clients, which are the most reliable growth base for UV business. Specialized UV suppliers can encourage their long-term partner factories to adopt UV coatings on new production lines. Improving UV penetration among existing clients features lower customer acquisition cost, making it the best choice for rapid short-term growth.
- Promote cross-industry chain collaboration. A single coating enterprise can hardly solve all technical challenges alone. Upstream raw material suppliers develop low-carbon and eco-friendly resins and additives; midstream coating and equipment manufacturers jointly test and optimize matching formulas; downstream coating enterprises dispatch professional engineers to support end users. Full industrial chain cooperation reduces costs and technical barriers, expands the overall UV market and realizes mutual growth for all participants.
IV. Future Growth Blueprint: Collaborative Development Rooted in the Greater Bay Area, Expanding Nationwide
Driven by the continuous expansion of whole-house customization, fully-furnished apartments and furniture export business, as well as stricter environmental policies phasing out oil-based coatings, China’s furniture UV coating market will maintain rapid growth from 2026 to 2030. High-end solid wood furniture, irregular craft furniture and automotive interior supporting coatings will become three golden growth tracks.
The four enterprises announced plans for multi-dimensional industrial collaboration based on Shunde’s advantages as a core coating hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area:
- Joint R&D laboratories for technological cooperation. The four parties share technical achievements in respective fields: Bangfu opens up technologies of EB curing and digital 3D-UV; Biaofu shares experience in flexible veneer UV formulas; Fengchen and Huaxuan conduct field tests for practical application. They jointly tackle common technical difficulties and develop cost-effective high-performance UV products for the whole industry.
- Complementary channel layout. Bangfu focuses on national floor and industrial coating markets; Biaofu deepens presence in solid wood furniture clusters in South and East China; Fengchen expands low-tier markets via multi-brand layout; Huaxuan leverages its national distribution network to explore county-level markets in Central and West China. Dislocated operation avoids vicious competition and jointly expands the domestic UV market.
- Joint overseas expansion into Southeast Asia. Relying on Bangfu’s overseas production base in Vietnam, the four enterprises integrate product resources and develop moisture-resistant UV coatings adapted to local climate for Southeast Asian solid wood furniture export, exploring overseas blue ocean markets and promoting high-quality Chinese UV coatings globally.
Conclusion
From individual enterprises striving for breakthroughs to four leading brands jointly decoding growth secrets, Bangfu, Fengchen, Biaofu and Huaxuan overcome product bottlenecks via technological innovation, escape homogeneous competition via segmented operation, and solve transformation difficulties for end users via professional services, pointing out a clear path for large-scale growth of China’s furniture UV coating industry.
As green coatings fully replace traditional oil-based products, the UV coating industry is bound to shift from extensive expansion to high-quality development. In the future, the four benchmark enterprises will continue to play a leading role, drive the standardization and high-end upgrade of the whole industry through coordinated development, accelerate the comprehensive transition of domestic furniture finishing to full UV green coating, and help China’s coating industry gain greater influence in the global environmental protection track.
