Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Tuesday, June 20, 2023
BERLIN – Heckler & Koch, the German weapons manufacturer, is relying more and more on the United States for its bottom line, figures released on Tuesday at its annual general meeting showed.
Last year, the US accounted for 43% of sales. In 2019 it was 25%. That rose to 34% in 2020 and to 41% in 2021. Within three years, US sales more than doubled to €132 million ($144 million) from €60 million.
Since 2020, the US has been the most important market for the gunmaker based in south-west Germany. Before that, Germany was its biggest market.
H&K has an assembly plant for pistols in the US south-eastern state of Georgia.
“The civilian market in the United States is highly significant for Heckler & Koch,” said company chief executive Jens Bodo Koch, referring to sales to private individuals.
In Germany, this market is a niche, but in the US it is particularly large because of gun ownership traditions and relatively lax gun control laws. In the US civilian market, H&K sells mainly pistols, but also rifles.
Competition with big rivals Smith & Wesson, Colt and Sig Sauer is fierce. Sig Sauer, a Swiss company, had a German factory but moved it to the US in 2020, highlighting the economic appeal of the US gun market.
This year, US business has so far weakened somewhat, but in 2024, H&K expects demand to recover due to the presidential election, which often boosts gun sales, as many Americans stock up on firearms in anticipation of stricter gun laws.
Anti-gun activists, who had gained access to the Tuesday meeting complained that tens of thousands of people in the US are victims of gun violence annually.
Charlotte Kehne from the association Ohne Rüstung Leben (Living Without Weapons) said H&K was making “profits from the deadly US civilian market.”
