Siemens: China will likely be our biggest market

The president and CEO of Siemens Ltd China, Cheng Mei Wei, said that he is confident about the Chinese market even though the company's performance in the country has been influenced by the global economic slowdown.

"Some years from now, maybe China will overtake the United States and Germany and become our biggest market in the world," he said on Monday at an event in Dalian, in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

In the fiscal year 2011 - which ran from Oct 1, 2010 to Sept 30, 2011 - Siemens China's revenue, excluding Osram and Siemens IT Solutions & Services, was 6.39 billion euros ($8 billion), making it the second-largest overseas market for the company.

Cheng said that the demand for automated devices in China is growing fast as labor costs are getting higher.

Germany-based Siemens, a leading electronics and electrical engineering company, operates in four main areas: industry, energy, healthcare and infrastructure.

Cheng said that the four areas are related to the key areas of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2015).

"Surely, we will enjoy better development through providing our Chinese customers with high-quality techniques and products," he said.

Siemens has about 30,000 employees, 16 R&D centers, 65 operating companies and 65 regional offices across China.