Bayer plans to invest roughly 100 million Euro at its Brazilian sites through the end of 2009, Group CEO Werner Wenning announced at a press conference held in Belford Roxo, near Rio de Janeiro, to mark the 50th anniversary of the site’s founding, The company reported on June 23.
In 2007 Bayer achieved sales of 3.2 billion Euro in Latin America. Of this figure, Brazil accounted for about 1.2 billion Euro, or more than one-third, and is one of Bayer’s top 10 markets worldwide in terms of sales.
The announced investment program will focus on Belford Roxo, where 40 million Euro will be spent on modernisation and technical upgrading of the production facilities for plastics precursors and crop protection products, as well as on infrastructure projects. In addition, partner companies have announced that they will invest a further 55 million Euro at the Bayer industrial park in Belford Roxo. The projects to be implemented by Bayer and its partners will create 800 new jobs in the Belford Roxo area in addition to the current 2,000 positions at this location. A further amount of roughly 60 million Euro is to be invested at the other Bayer sites in Brazil.
Bayer has been active in Brazil since 1896 - first of all through an agency. The first Bayer company in the country was founded in 1911. Brazil is home to Bayer CropScience’s second-largest formulating plant worldwide for crop protection products, while Bayer MaterialScience supplies the entire South American market with MDI, a raw material used in the production of polyurethane foams, from Belford Roxo. Also produced at this site are coating raw materials for the automotive, furniture and construction industries.
Together with its partner companies in the industrial park, Bayer is the biggest employer in Belford Roxo, a city of 500,000 inhabitants. In addition, Bayer HealthCare operates three production sites in Brazil. The Bayer Group currently employs a total of 3,300 people in the country.
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. The company’s products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. The Group said it is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its role as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen.
In 2007, Bayer employed some 106,200 people and had sales of 32.4 billion Euro. Capital expenditures amounted to 1.9 billion Euro, R&D expenses to 2.6 billion Euro.