Sherwin-Williams ended paint manufacturing at its White Marl factory in St Catherine on 31 July 2026. The company confirmed that date to the Jamaica Observer. Products that used to come off those lines, including Kem Flat, Kem Gloss, Kem Low Sheen and Sherwil Special, will now be made at other Sherwin-Williams plants and imported into Jamaica.
The company will not say which plants. It also will not say whether every familiar White Marl line will still be sold here.
“Sherwin-Williams confirms that manufacturing operations at its St Catherine facility permanently concluded on July 31, 2026,” the company told the Observer. “Products previously manufactured at St Catherine will be produced at other Sherwin-Williams manufacturing locations and imported into Jamaica, then distributed through our established local supply chain network to Sherwin-Williams stores and other retailers across the island.”
White Marl started production in 1974, after a factory built in 1972. Before that, Sherwin-Williams had been in Jamaica since the 1960s as an importer. The Observer, reading the company’s 2025 annual report, says Jamaica was listed as its only principal manufacturing location in the Caribbean. The Paint Stores Group still had shops at the end of 2025 in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, St Maarten, Jamaica, Curaçao, Aruba, St Lucia and Barbados. The factory that supplied that story from Jamaica is the part that closed.
Twenty-one people went into consultations over the shutdown. Seven were transferred inside the company. Fourteen were separated. Sherwin-Williams says those 14 received legally required payments plus extra voluntary benefits. It still employs about 180 people in Jamaica, runs 24 company-owned stores, and says it serves more than 27,000 customers. The White Marl distribution centre stays open. Decommissioning of the manufacturing section is scheduled into 2027. The company says that work will not hit product quality, availability or customer service.
It also says the decision was not about how the St Catherine plant or its staff performed, and was not part of a wider Caribbean or Latin America shutdown. Asked whether imports would push prices, given freight and foreign exchange, Sherwin-Williams declined to forecast. “As a matter of practice, we do not speculate about future pricing, which can be influenced by a range of market and business factors,” it said.
What this means. Jamaica still has Sherwin-Williams shops. It no longer has Sherwin-Williams making paint. A distribution centre and a store count can look like an industrial presence. They are a sales network. Contractors who specified Kem or Sherwil from a local batch now depend on an unnamed overseas plant and a ship.
What to do. If you are pricing a job on those lines, ask the store whether the product is in stock as an import and what the lead time is. Do not assume the old factory schedule. If you buy for a project in US dollars or on a fixed quote, build in the freight and FX the company will not discuss. The shops are open. The factory is not.
Last fact-checked 1 September 2026.
