German technology group Bosch wants to push ahead with its business in China despite discussions about being too dependent on individual markets.
“The market must be served, that is important. If you can be competitively successful in that market, you can do it anywhere in the world,” Bosch chief executive Stefan Hartung said as the company’s preliminary annual figures were published on Friday.
The company also aims to grow in other markets besides China, including India, Mexico and the US, he said.
In the People’s Republic, Bosch made around a fifth of its sales of €88.4 billion ($96.6 billion) last year. Worldwide sales grew by 12% within a year.
Hartung did not comment on the influence of inflation on the increased revenues, but said that there was still “decent volume growth.”
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to €3.7 billion after €3.2 billion in the previous year. Bosch was thus once again below its long-term return targets of 7% EBIT on sales, reaching around 4% here in 2022.
A few weeks ago, the company announced that it would invest around €950 million in a development centre in Suzhou, China, over the next 10 years. In China, Bosch produces 80% of its products for the local market, Hartung emphasized. “We are not so dependent on that market that we need production to serve the rest of the world.”