BASF to establish global headquarters for Dispersions & Pigments division in Hong Kong

The Bayer Group has announced plans to further expand its production, distribution network and research activities in Asia and considerably increase its sales in the region in the coming years. "We aim to achieve a more than 60% increase in our sales in Asia by 2015," Management Board Chairman Dr. Marijn Dekkers said recently at Bayer’s international press conference ‘Perspective on Growth in Asia,’held in Shanghai, China. This would mean annual sales of well over €11bn by 2015 at today’s exchange rates. Of this figure, Greater China is planned to account for some €6bn. Dekkers officially inaugurated a new production facility for TDI – a raw material for the production of flexible foams – at the Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai.

At the press conference Dekkers explained the company’s perspectives in the emerging countries of Asia. He said the Bayer Group already does a significant proportion of its business in Asia. Twenty years ago, Asia accounted for only about 10% of sales, equivalent to just over €2bn. Ten years ago, the proportion had grown to about 15%, and last year the region already accounted for some 20% of sales. In the Asian region, Bayer achieved sales of €6.9bn in 2010, including €2.9bn in Greater China, and anticipates further growth in Asia in 2011. "We have made capital expenditures of €3.4bn in Asia over the past 10 years, creating a basis for outperforming market growth in this region," said Dekkers.
Bayer has laid a firm foundation for expansion. "Our country organisations here have had local roots for many years, in fact we have been operating for more than a century in China, India and Japan," said Dekkers. "We are familiar with the markets, and we know how to tune our approaches to the different conditions prevailing in different markets in order to further expand our business."