Zoom imageSpeaking to the media in Tokyo: Bayer CEO Dr. Marijn Dekkers (center) with Bayer AG Management Board member Dr. Wolfgang Plischke (left) and the Senior Bayer Representative for Japan, Hans-Dieter Hausner.
The Bayer Group plans to expand its business in Japan – despite the difficult conditions following the earthquake and tsunami disaster – and continue to grow sales in the coming years. “Japan has been and continues to be one of the world’s most attractive markets for Bayer,” said Dr. Marijn Dekkers, Chairman of the Board of Management, at a news conference held to mark the centennial of Bayer’s Japanese subsidiary.
In the first six months of 2011, Bayer had sales of more than €1 billion in Japan – a year-on-year increase of 4.6 percent after adjusting for currency and portfolio effects. Sales for the full year 2010 came to nearly €2 billion. Dekkers predicted further growth in light of the dynamic market environment: “Over the next five years we plan to grow by an average of about 6 percent a year – after adjusting for currency and portfolio effects – and raise sales to around €2.4 billion by 2015.” He said spending on research and development in Japan is to continue at a high level, totaling more than €500 million over the same period.
Dekkers also announced that the Bayer Cares Foundation will provide €700,000 – including €300,000 donated by Bayer employees – for a long-term reconstruction project following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Bayer’s total relief aid – including extensive emergency aid and a donation of urgently needed health care products – now totals nearly €2.3 million.