|
 |
| Japan's Sharp expects sales boost from Beijing Olympics |
|
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 9-Jan-2008 03:17 hrs |
|
| Mikio Katayama, president of Japan's electronics giant Sharp Corporation, introduces a prototype of a two-centimeter-thick, 65-inch LCD during a press conference in Tokyo. Sharp said Tuesday that it was aiming for a double-digit surge in sales of flat-panel televisions in the coming fiscal year helped by rapid growth in the Chinese market. |
| |
|
|
Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. said Tuesday that it was aiming for a double-digit surge in sales of flat-panel televisions in the coming fiscal year helped by rapid growth in the Chinese market.. Sharp hopes to get a sales boost from the August Olympic Games in Beijing, particularly in China which has already overtaken Europe to become the company's third-largest market for liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions.. Sharp hopes to sell 10 million LCD televisions worldwide in the year to March 2009, up about 11 percent from sales of about 9.0 million expected in the current year, group president Mikio Katayama told a press briefing.. Sharp is focusing increasingly on China where sales of its LCD televisions exceeded those in Europe in December, making the Asian nation its number three market behind Japan and North America.. "This is a symbolic phenomenon for us," said Katayama.. "The Beijing Olympics this year will be a tailwind for us and we would like to fully expand in China from now on," he added.. The company now aims to ramp up monthly output of mother glass substrates for its flat panel televisions by 50 percent to 90,000 at its second Kameyama factory in the central region of Osaka by July.. Sharp had originally planned to hike capacity to this level by the end of December this year.. The move "will enhance our cost-competitiveness and also allow us to increase supply to clients," said Katayama.. The decision comes after Sharp and rival Toshiba Corp struck an alliance under which Toshiba will start procuring large LCD panels from Sharp starting in the next fiscal year from April.. Sharp is a pioneer of LCD screens, having launched one of the world's first LCD pocket calculators in 1973.. The company has seen four straight years of record profits as consumers dump their bulky traditional-style TVs for sleek flat panel ones.. Despite brisk sales, Japanese electronics makers and their foreign rivals such as Samsung Electronics of South Korea are waging a fierce price war in flat TVs, weighing on their profit margins and requiring them to cut costs.. While Chinese sales are robust, demand in Europe and North America for large LCD TVs are not living up to the company's expectations, said Katayama.. "In Europe we lack brand power. Compared with other companies, we have a low share. But if our factory in Poland continues to grow and we can supply parts, then I think sales will go smoother," said Katayama. — AFP
|
