Products and markets

Components and intermediate products account for over three-quarters of sales by the Freudenberg Group. The major customer groupings are the automotive industry, the mechanical engineering sector, and the textile and clothing industry. Just under one-quarter of all goods are final products such as vileda® brand mechanical household cleaning and laundry care products or nora® brand rubber floorcoverings.

The decline in sales by the Freudenberg Group occurred almost exclusively in North America – chiefly as a result of the changes in exchange rate parity between the Dollar and the Euro. This development explains the pronounced shift in sales by regions. While North America was still the strongest single market for Freudenberg in 2002, accounting for 31.5 percent of sales, the share fell to 27.6 percent in the year under review. The region accounting for the largest share of Group sales was the EU (excluding Germany) with a share of 31.9 percent (2002: 29.4 percent). For the first time in several years, the percentage share of sales accounted for by the German market rose, and now totals 25.5 percent (2002: 24.7 percent). Sales in Asia fell to some 214 (2002: 219) million Euro, chiefly due to exchange rate effects. As a result of various cooperation projects, particularly with the Japanese partners JVC and NOK, the lion’s share of Freudenberg’s activities in Asia is not consolidated. If sales by the Japanese partners were included solely on a pro-rata shareholding basis, Asia would account for 17 percent of total Group sales.