MELCHERS GROUP
Profile
ESTABLISHED
1806 IN BREMEN, GERMANY
APPROX. 1,200
EMPLOYEES
Including more than 800 in Asia
HEADQUARTERS
BREMEN
OVER 50 WORLDWIDE
COMPANIES
with the main focus on Europe,
South-East Asia, China, and Korea
ASIA EXPERT
FOR 150 YEARS
25
BRANCHES AND REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES IN ASIA
with the main focus on Europe,
South-East Asia, China, and Korea
Headquartered in Bremen, C. Melchers & Co. has been a private, owner-managed partnership since 1806. Thanks to our strong capital base, we are able to do business freely and independently on the international markets.
With our experience and expertise, we can offer you support and assistance as you develop your sales or procurement markets. Our services cover the entire value chain – from product development and manufacture through sales and retailing to marketing and after-sales service. Other areas of business include importing and exporting to and from Asia and internal trading within Asia.
Our success is based on more than two centuries of experience – including 150 years of trading with Asia – and a flexibly organized global network. Each of our local companies gears its business operations to the particular markets and customers which it serves. This independence and this flexibility enable us to integrate each new product sector into the Melchers Group seamlessly and to achieve your corporate goals successfully.
Success &
History
FARSIGHTED FOR OVER 215 YEARS
1990
1806
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMPANY IN BREMEN
1846
BRANCHES IN MEXICO AND ON HAWAII
After the death of the company's founder Carl Melchers, his eldest son Laurenz Heinrich Melchers takes over management of C. Melchers & Co. Start of expansion into the Asian market.
1854
NEW GENERATION
1866
FIRST BRANCH IN ASIA
1887
REPRESENTATIVE OF NORTH GERMAN LLOYD
1970
NEW OFFICES IN ASIA NEW BRANCHES IN CHINA
Since its foundation in Bremen in 1806, Melchers has been active in international markets. Until the middle of the 19th century, the focus was more on the Pacific economic area, and after the establishment of a branch in Hong Kong in 1866, Melchers was also active in Asia.
Focke & Melchers, a shipping and trading company, is founded in Bremen by Carl Melchers (1781-1854) and Carl Focke. Its business is centred on emigration to the US and the transportation of goods from Cuba, Mexico and the US.
The three Melchers brothers, Heinrich (1822-93), Georg (1827-1907) and Gustav (1830-1902), establish a branch in Mazatlàn, Mexico, followed seven years later by a further branch in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In the 1860s, C. Melchers & Co. becomes established in Asia and engages in trade with China with great success. Thus, in 1866, the first Asian branch is opened in Hong Kong. Trading is now concentrated on China and the company abandons its shipping business.
VIETNAM
Melchers is one of the first German companies to open a branch in Hanoi
and then also in Saigon.
2001
GROWTH FOLLOWING REORGANISATION OF CORPORATE STRUCTURE
2016
150 YEARS IN ASIA
2020
30 YEARS IN VIETNAM
Melchers evolves from a trading house to an international service provider specialising in market expansion and trading – based on a holding concept. Further expansion ensues with the acquisition of brands, know-how and market presence in both Europe and Asia. Increased M&A activities lead to steady growth. Melchers establishes a joint company with Stucken & Co. in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
2016 marks 150 years of presence in Asia / China.
& MORE TO COME
Having a holding in North German Lloyd since its founding in 1887, Melchers becomes the shipping company's representative in China and Hong Kong.
From the 1970s onwards, sales & marketing offices are established in many Asian countries, including Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. With China opening up for trade again in the late 1970s, branches are set up in that country once more, underscoring the immense importance of Chinese business for Melchers. With the establishment of a branch in San Francisco, business activities are expanded to include trading between the United States and Asia in order to take advantage of the rapidly developing trade relationships between Asia and America