Rotam Expands into Asia Pacific

Rotam CropSciences has opened a new office in Jakarta, Indonesia as the headquarters of the new Asia Pacific region. It is a development that offers opportunities for the rapidly expanding multi-national, as it advances into the fast growing Asia Pacific crop protection market.

This new global region for Rotam, that excludes China, India, Taiwan and Japan, represents a market worth 3.7bn USD in 2011. It also offers vast opportunity, with 16% growth last year.

Chief Commercial Officer, Jean Michel Duhamel explains that the development of the company into this region is in line with their own high growth business ambitions. “The plan is to strengthen our presence across the Philippines and Korea; whilst developing the Rotam brands within Indonesia itself, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, and New Zealand.

“The entire territory is highly attractive given its size, diversity and array of crops produced year-round; Jakarta is strategically positioned as it has a physical advantage given its proximity to the other ASEAN regions,” notes Jean Michel.

“There is clearly a strong opportunity for innovative, post patent chemistry that delivers pest, disease and weed control solutions, whilst doing so at an affordable price,” he adds.

 “Rotam has decided to use Indonesia as its regional hub, mainly for ASEAN and Asia Pacific countries,” he says. “We have established a fully operational set-up to manage sales and marketing, as well as providing a testing facility, and base for an experienced new team; with future country offices planned to give Rotam a strong local presence.

”Heading-up the region’s development, Dr. Bakthan is highly experienced in the Asia Pacific crop protection market, having previously been CEO of Makhteshim Agan’s Indonesia operation. He holds a wealth of technical and commercial expertise, as well as a PhD in the field of Agricultural Entomology.

He adds that he is confident that Rotam will quickly become a major player in this region. “There is a clear, internal business direction, a straight-forward regulatory system, and we have a strong product portfolio coming on-stream. This includes treatments with dual active ingredients, which provide an excellent fit in the existing crop protection armoury.”