Merck Serono | Sales by region
In Europe, sales by the Merck Serono division grew by 8.7% to € 2,653 million. Our largest market was France, where sales increased by 7.7% to € 625 million. Sales in Germany rose only slightly by 1.7% to € 484 million mainly as a result of restrictive health policies. In both Italy and Spain, sales advanced by 10% and were virtually on a par at € 296 million and € 295 million, respectively. Smaller markets such as Turkey, Russia and the Czech Republic posted strong sales increases of 14%, 48% and 40%, respectively.
We expanded our position in North America, where sales rose by 7.2% to € 783 million. In Latin America, we recorded a 19% increase in sales. In Brazil, our largest market, sales grew sharply by 33% to € 196 million. Sales in Venezuela and Colombia surged by 26% and 46%, respectively, whereas in Mexico, sales declined by 8.5% due to overstocking by wholesalers. Sales grew by 20% in the region Asia, Africa, Australasia, primarily thanks to the success in China, where sales jumped by 84% to € 114 million, and Japan, which posted a 64% rise in sales to € 30 million as well as good growth in smaller markets such as Saudi Arabia and Algeria.