NUREMBERG, Germany (dpa) – Never mind the Internet, SMS messages and hand-held computers: the humble pencil still has a future, says Anton Wolfgang Graf von Faber-Castell, head of the renowned German writing-implement manufacturer of the same name.
“The one does not exclude the other,” said the head of the family company. This year it is celebrating its 240th anniversary. “We believe the pencil is the nucleus of creative effort.”Faber-Castell is having to react to market changes by introducing increasingly innovative products. “We should gradually reduce dependence on the office sector,” said Graf von Faber-Castell.Demand for writing equipment is stagnating in industrial countries, and the industry is also facing strong pressure on prices from Asian competitors, he said.The Nuremberg Society for Market Research says sales of high- quality fountain pens dropped by 45 per cent between 1995 and 2000. During this period, 340,000 fewer fountain pens were sold in Germany.Faber-Castell is therefore planning a greater shift into the creative market such as colouring pens and hobby modelling equipment, for adults as well as for children, said Graf von Faber-Castell.The company last year bought the U.S. firm Creativity for Kids, to ensure development potential for new products. The company with 70 employees is based in Cleveland, Ohio.Faber-Castell produces 1.8 million colouring pencils and lead pencils a year – a pencil for every third person in the world. This makes it the largest manufacturer of wooden pencils in the world.The company range has a total of 2,000 different products. The company suffered a setback in 1999 when turnover dropped to 505 million marks (219 million U.S. dollars) – minus 6.4 per cent – because of the strong devaluation of the Brazilian real.But since then business has enjoyed an upturn. It “easily exceeded” its turnover target of 600 million marks (260 million dollars) in the last 2000/2001 business year, which represented growth above the industry average.Faber-Castell makes 80 per cent of its turnover outside Germany. Lead pencils and colouring pencils account for one third of turnover.Eyeliner, eye shadow and lipsticks for prestigious cosmetics companies account for another 12 per cent. It has 15 production sites worldwide.
