Heavy-machinery company Deere still sees itself doubling in size over the next eight years, due in large part to construction and agriculture in Asia, the corporation’s CEO, Samuel Allen, told CNBC Tuesday.
“We think there are very favorable macroeconomic trends that will support this,” said Allen.
He said because of the increasingly limited availability of farming land, “highly productive” equipment to work the earth is needed, and that’s what Deere can supply.
“And as population grows—by 2050, it will be 9.4 billion people—probably 70 percent of whom will be in an urban setting,” he said. “In that situation, there will be a lot of construction.”
Turning to the disaster in Japan, Allen said poor communication still hampers Deere’s ability to assess damage to suppliers there.
Some plants operated by Hitachi , one of Deere’s main partners, are online, said Allen, while the damage to others are yet to be determined. He added that there could be some delay also from electronics manufacturers located in northern Japan.