Many changes took place in the late Eighties and early Nineties as international trade business experienced tremendous changes and revolutionary new product developments The company eventually closed its activities in the technical and engineering sectors abandoned the distribution of consumer products and strengthened its efforts in the chemical sector instead The range of products and services at that time included mainly fertilizers agro chemicals polymers industrial chemicals and paper The company had already been selling chemical products since the beginning of the century but started to accelerate the importation and distribution of fertilizers crop protection products and insecticides in the late Sixties These products then became a core business area especially after Malaysia started to promote the development of palm oil plantations which has continued ever since Behn Meyer Today Over the course of the century and despite losing everything in the two world wars because of the commitment and loyalty of many employees the company manage to re establish itself 2016 marks Behn Meyer s 125th anniversary in Malaysia Today the Behn Meyer Group combines the distribution of renowned brands with the development of its own products Behn Meyer s core business units focus on the following four segments Singapore Malaya and the Philippines were confiscated and auctioned off by the colonial authorities After the war the company managed a strong return to its traditional markets and since German companies were not allowed to establish their own legal representations in the Straits Settlements and other British territories new offices in Penang and Singapore were opened by N V Behn Meyer Co Maatschappij Batavia a company under Dutch law and named Straits Java Trading Co The new establishments successfully acquired sole agencies for the well known German chemical manufacturers I G Farben later to become Bayer AG BASF AG Hoechst AG Casella AG and Beiersdorf A G as well as the machinery manufacturers Deutz and Henschel and many other highly reputable German brands The offices in Penang Ipoh Singapore grew strongly and the success was repeated later in Kuala Lumpur The Second World War changed everything During the period 1939 to 1945 all the Asian nations in which Behn Meyer s had maintained offices for so many years were at war with Germany All the assets in Asia were lost again From The Fifties To The Late Nineties The company resumed trading in Jakarta in 1953 in Singapore in 1955 and in Penang and Kuala Lumpur in 1958 By the end of the Fifties Behn Meyer Co had re established its position as one of the leading German trading houses in South East Asia Our story begins in 1840 when two young men from Hamburg Theodor August Behn and Valentin Lorenz Meyer established Behn Meyer Co in Singapore The business was based on natural products from South East Asia such as coconut oil copra pepper camphor rattan and rice which were bought from countries all over Asia In 1891 Behn Meyer established a branch in Penang which was the company s first representation in Malaya Malaysia After 70 years Behn Meyer has become one of the leading German overseas trading firms importing natural produce and tin to Europe and exporting manufactured goods from Europe to Asia mostly as sole agents At the same time Behn Meyer were the largest agency for the main German shipping lines in Asia as well as being prominently active in the insurance business and shareholders in various estates and plantations The Great Wars and Beyond During the First World War the assets and properties of Behn Meyer Co in Left Theodor August Behn Right Valentin Lorenz Meyer Behn Meyer office building in Singapore around 1910 Behn Meyer Co Branch in Penang Straits Settlements Olympia dealer s workshop in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Behn Meyer How Everything Started 44 MEMBER NEWS SPECIAL

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