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China Becomes Kodak's Second Largest Market
China has become the second largest market for the world's leading film producer, Eastman Kodak Co., said the company's chief executive officer Daniel A. Carp in Shanghai.
Carp came to China to attend the inauguration of Kodak's two new plants in Xiamen and Wuxi over the weekend. Together with these two new plants, Kodak now has 5,000 sales outlets across China.
The new plant in Xiamen, a port city on China's southeastern coast, has been Kodak's largest investment project in 30 years, worth US$1 billion. It is so far the U.S. film company 's largest production center.
Kodak has set up plants in China for manufacturing cameras, film development equipment, digital photography and X-ray films for medical use.
Carp said that Kodak sees China as both a production center and a booming market.
China's film market, which was ranked 17th among Kodak's markets four years ago, has been growing at an annual rate of 10 percent, said Carp.
Carp announced there will be 10,000 sales outlets in China by 2003. He said that the market for film and photography is huge in China's western region because of its unique landscapes and scenery.
Kodak also wants a slice of China's digital photography market, encouraged by the soaring demand for digital film in the country. Last year, the market grew to 80 percent, according to China's official statistics.
Carp said that Kodak is seeking cooperation with local Internet portals in developing its B to C (Business to Consumer) network to enable Chinese consumers to purchase Kodak's photograph and film via the Internet.
The per-capita film consumption in China averages one roll a year, as compared with 3.6 rolls in America. Only 15 percent of Chinese own cameras.
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