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Intermec sees 10% rise in China sales

By Zheng Lifei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-04 08:03

Intermec, one of the world's biggest makers of automated identification products, expects robust sales growth in China this year, banking on the country's resilient economy and its efforts to stimulate the logistics sector, a top company executive said.

The US mobile computing technology company expects China sales to grow at least 10 percent this year after having registered a 25 percent growth in 2008, said Patrick J. Byrne, Intermec's president and CEO.

But Byrne declined to provide the specific revenue numbers his firm recorded in China, citing company policy.

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Worldwide, the maker of hand-held scanners and data collection products chalked up $890 million in revenue in 2008, up from $849 million the previous year.

"China is a growth market for us and we want to maintain robust growth in the country," Byrne said.

The CEO admitted that the global economic downturn will have an impact on the company's business, as declining exports will reduce demand for transportation and warehousing services, two of the many sectors served by Intermec.

"But in China, the market will continue to grow as we see huge opportunities in its still robust economy, especially in its logistics, warehousing, airport and railway sectors," Byrne said.

The Chinese government's 4-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package will present "huge opportunities" for Intermec as more airports and railways will be built or upgraded, Byrne said.

Intermec, which competes with Symbol and Zebra Technologies, supplies barcode printers and label media to airports, and Radio Frequency Identification products (RFID) to rail freight carriers.

"We are particularly excited about the government's recently announced stimulus package for the logistics industry," Byrne said.

"As China's economy becomes more reliant on internal consumption as its driver, the transportation and logistics industries will see significant growth in the next few years," he added.

The Everett, Washington-based company also sees opportunities in China's postal service sector and will introduce more applications for this segment, he said.

The market size of RFID, which is widely used in logistics and transportation industries, surged 46 percent from a year earlier to hit 8 billion yuan last year in China, according to Shanghai-based consulting firm Sinotes.