Lantmännen is a long-standing CLAAS sales partner in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Lantmännen has advised that it is discontinuing its agricultural machinery business in Denmark and Norway, and that it will continue its agricultural machinery sales on a smaller scale in Sweden only. Furthermore, Lantmännen will be focusing on the Agco brands Valtra, Fendt and MF in Sweden.
For this reason, CLAAS will be restructuring its sales operations in these three countries. CLAAS has been operating in Scandinavia for several decades now, and today it is the market leader in the harvesting technology segment and a major tractor supplier. "We aim to cater even better for Scandinavia in future, and to continue to improve our service and expand our market share. We see a great deal of potential here in the coming years, particularly in the tractor segment", says Jens Skifter, CLAAS Regional Director.
"All three countries are important agricultural machinery markets for CLAAS, and they are markets in which we want to continue to grow. The ongoing structural change in the agricultural sector and the volatility in the agricultural commodities market are presenting the agricultural machinery business with challenges which affect both manufacturers and sales partners. The resulting financial issues on the retail side can only be resolved by the sales partners themselves and internally. We are very well represented in Denmark and Norway by a number of private dealers. We will now work to build a stronger commitment to these partners", says Uwe Lütkeschümer, CLAAS Regional President, commenting the decision.
The existing agreements between Lantmännen and CLAAS for Denmark and Sweden run until the end of 2018 and will not be continued subsequently. Both parties will continue to co-operate as before until the end of the contract term. Full sales and service coverage will be provided in all three countries through the existing structures in place in the region.
"We would like to take this opportunity to thank all employees of Lantmännen, as well as all private dealers in Norway and Denmark, for our long-standing and successful collaboration. We will work to quickly find a viable solution for the sales of CLAAS technology in Scandinavia, while better meeting the growing expectations of our customers as regards consultation and service, and we will continue to move forward with our successful exclusivity strategy. At the same time, we remain fully committed to our successful collaboration with private dealers. CLAAS customers in Denmark, Sweden and Norway can continue to count on CLAAS as a strong local partner providing professional agricultural machinery and competent service," reassures Jens Skifter, CLAAS Regional Director.
We will be announcing our future sales and distribution strategy for CLAAS machinery in Scandinavia in due course.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact
Jens Skifter
Regional Director Middle Europe
+49 5247 12 2857 / jens.skifter@claas.com
or
CLAAS Corporate Communication
Director Wolfram Eberhardt
Deputy Anne Ehnts
+49 5247 12 1555 / anne.ehnts@claas.com
