Merck very optimistic about China market

German science and technology company Merck has set an ambitious target of doubling its sales in China by 2025.

"Today, Asia Pacific, in particular China, is a significant source of growth and investment for Merck," said Allan Gabor, president of Merck China and managing director of performance materials China. "Sales across Merck's three pillar businesses, namely health care, life science and performance materials, jumped 18 percent to 1.9 billion euros (US$2.15 billion) in China last year and we plan to double that by 2025."

Asia Pacific, which accounted for approximately a third of Merck's global sales in 2018, posted 8-percent growth last year, according to Gabor.

The Darmstadt-headquartered giant, the world's oldest family-owned pharmaceutical and chemical company which celebrated its 350th anniversary last year, remains very bullish about achieving double-digit growth over the next couple of years across all its businesses in China, now Merck's second-largest market behind the US.

"In recent years, we have invested over 5 billion yuan in our sites here but that is actually not the highlight," Gabor said. "Just in the year of 2017, we spent over 10 billion yuan in partnerships with our vendors in China which suggests that we have great confidence in the quality of our Chinese suppliers and partners, many of whom work directly with us in the high-tech area."

This year, Merck will open two innovation centers in China, one in Guangzhou and the other in Shanghai, to further embed itself into the country's innovation ecosystem and enhance strategic alliances with local partners, the company said.