Diversified chemicals group DSM NV remains confident of its growth in China and said it has no plans to revise the annual sales target of US$1.5 billion set for 2010 despite the economic downturn.

The Dutch company sees no need to revise the target set in 2007, said Jiang Weiming, president, DSM China.

The global economic downturn has sapped demand for chemical products, putting pressure on chemical companies like DSM and its rivals such as BASF and Bayer.

DSM's China sales edged up 10 percent to US$1.05 billion last year, slowing from a 23 percent growth in 2007.

"Nobody is immune from the economic hardships, and DSM is no exception," Jiang said.

"But fortunately in China, the economy is still robust and I expect it to perform better in the second half of this year and will our business," he said.

"Although we are relatively cautious this year, I think we can still achieve steady growth in all our sectors," Jiang said, without elaborating.

DSM, which is also a global leader in fiber optic coating materials, last week inked a multi-million dollar deal with Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Co Ltd (YOFC) to supply the latter with DSM's new generation of DeSolite Supercoatings.

Under the deal, DSM will provide YOFC, the world's second biggest optical fiber producer, with its coating materials for the next four years.

The Dutch company will strive to beef up its fiber coating business in China as the demand for the product is likely to take off following the country's launch of 3G mobile services, according to Robert Crowell, vice-president of DSM's Fiber Optic Materials division.

DSM, whose products ranging from nutrition and specialized materials to raw materials for drugs, in March acquired a 9.77 percent share in North China Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (NCPC) of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province.

DSM spent 827 million yuan for the NCPC stake and plans to set up three joint ventures with its Shanghai-listed arm NCPC Ltd.

Jiang told China Daily earlier that the company was scouting for suitable merger and acquisition opportunities in China to drive its expansion.

(China Daily May 31, 2009)