Europe
In Europe, Marubeni pursues business in an array of industry sectors, most notably North Sea oil field development, wholesale electricity sales, automobiles, construction machinery, and agricultural machinery, and the sale of agrichemicals, fertilizers, and other chemicals. Marubeni’s policy going forward is to continue to focus on areas such as food, and environmental infrastructure projects.
Yutaka Nomura
Executive Officer, Regional CEO for Europe
Economic Environment and Initiatives in Fiscal 2008
The euro-zone economy in 2008 recorded negative growth for three quarters from the second quarter onwards due to the global economic depression.Central and Eastern Europe, viewed as the next growth region for the European economy, has seen some countries receive emergency loans from the IMF, due to economic stagnation in Western Europe, and distortion caused by economic structures dependent on foreign currency-denominated loans. Similarly, the situation in neighboring Russia, which previously benefited from high natural resource prices, and Ukraine, has been seriously impacted by the bursting of the economic bubble.
For its activities in Europe and surrounding regions, Marubeni has promoted business development in a diverse range of industry sectors through Marubeni Europe and its other overseas offices, and over 20 operating companies. In 2008, however, despite the steady performance during the first half of the year, sales slumped in the second half, particularly in automobiles, construction machinery and chemicals, due to sudden changes in the market environment, and overall growth in earnings was sluggish.
Upcoming Initiatives
Negative growth is again expected for the euro-zone economy in 2009. That said, new business opportunities, including new projects in cooperation with prominent business partners, are also emerging. Accordingly, Marubeni’s policy will be to focus on sales in Europe of chemicals, food and other commodities, for which stable demand is anticipated over the medium to long term, and on environmental infrastructure projects, including power generation.
