Sharp Expands LCD Production in China

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp said Tuesday it would start producing liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors in China to cut export costs and meet a surge in demand there.

"It is cheaper to produce them in China than to export them from Japan, which is what we are doing at the moment," said a company spokesman.

"We have not decided exactly when the project will begin. We are aiming for next spring, but it could happen this year," he said.

There is a huge growth in demand for LCD projectors, used in personal computers, in China and Sharp aims to produce between 30,000 and 40,000 units a year for the market.

"Production will take place at our joint factory in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province," said the spokesman.

Sharp already has a 70 percent stake in Nanjing Sharp Electronic Co Ltd, a venture with a local electronics firm in Nanjing, where it makes colour televisions and other audio equipment.

Separately, Japanese hi-tech giant Hitachi Ltd may start producing cellular phone handsets in China through a partnership with a local company, the Japan Industrial Journal reported without citing sources.

Under a new arrangement, the pair would build a joint plant by the end of this year, with target sales of between one and 2 million handsets a year, it said.

Earlier in July two major Japanese mobile equipment makers said they may move production to China to side-step a 100 percent tariff imposed by Beijing as part of a trade dispute between the two countries.

Kyocera Corp and Sanyo Electric Co Ltd have halted exports to China of mobile phone goods because of a 100 percent tariff hike imposed by Beijing on certain products made in Japan, which meant they were no longer competitive.

In late April, Tokyo slapped emergency tariffs on imports of spring onions, fresh mushrooms and tatami rushes, to protect local producers.

China, the top exporter of these products to Japan, was the government's main target.

In retaliation, Beijing last month imposed 100 percent extra tariffs on automobiles, mobile telephones and air conditioners made in Japan.






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