Bayer has stepped up its involvement in China. The Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan province together present Bayer's largest single market in Asia, with sales of around 1.5 billion euro in 2006.

"China is of central importance to Bayer's global strategy. We strive to mirror the developments in China with our strategic decisions, offering solutions for China's needs," said Michael Koenig, president of the Bayer Greater China Group.

Market presence

Bayer is represented in China by 18 companies across the group, including subgroups Bayer CropScience, Bayer HealthCare and Bayer MaterialScience, as well as Bayer Technology Services.

A broad-based cooperation agreement between Bayer and the Ministry for Chemical Industry signed in 1993 laid the foundation for the expansion of the firm's business activities in China. One of the company's first major projects under the cooperation agreement was completed in November 1997, when Bayer HealthCare Co Ltd began producing a wide range of pharmaceuticals in Beijing.

Its second production company, Bayer (Sichuan) Animal Health Co Ltd, started operations in Chengdu in 1997. In 2006, Bayer AG acquired Schering AG, Germany, to set up Bayer Schering Pharma.

Bayer has also expanded its position in the Chinese agriculture market. Bayer CropScience Hangzhou Co Ltd was established in 2000 for the production of the insecticide Regent (fipronil), one of China's leading rice insecticides, as well as formulating and packaging a broad range of other crop protection products.

In the field of innovative materials, Bayer MaterialScience operates the joint venture company Bayer Guangyi Panel Co Ltd, set up in Beijing at the end of 1996, to manufacture and market polycarbonate sheeting and other products for the Chinese construction industry.

In March 1999, a polyol formulating plant came on stream at the joint venture Bayer Jinling Polyurethane Co Ltd in Nanjing, while Bayer MaterialScience Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd was founded in August 2005.

Bayer Technology and Engineering (Shanghai) Co Ltd, established in November 2003, offers technical support to Bayer's operating subgroups in China and also to external customers in Asia.

Integrated Site Shanghai

In 2001, Bayer started to establish world-scale production facilities at its integrated site at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park. In recent years, more and more facilities have started operation at the site, including those producing the polycarbonate Makrolon, a splitter for separating crude MDI and the coating raw material HDI.

Other projects are being planned or under construction. The overall project represents total capital expenditure of about 1.8 billion euro through 2012 and is Bayer's biggest-ever project outside of Germany.

Education, research projects

Bayer also actively supports research and education in China, especially through joint scientific projects like the research cooperation agreement signed in April 2001 with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The company also sponsors a Chair of Intellectual Property Rights and a Chair for Sustainable Development at Tongji University in Shanghai, and supports research into the further development of a comprehensive public health system at the China Europe International Business School Shanghai (CEIBS).

Social commitment

As a global corporate citizen, Bayer's social commitment in China is based on the principles of sustainable development and the endeavor to reconcile economic interests, ecological aspects and social responsibility. It is involved in local community life through the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Program and the Bayer Environmental Award for Media, as well as its partnership with the Special Olympics Organization.

Bayer supports public health programs like the Tsinghua-Bayer Public Health and HIV/AIDS Media Studies Program, and funds a community development project in Fujian Province.

(China Daily 05/24/2007 page28)