[March 10, 2006]

DC Heavyweight to Produce High-end Gadgets in China

(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SHENZHEN, Mar 10, 2006 (SinoCast China IT Watch via COMTEX) --Last year Canon's sales in China's mainland increased 38 percent, much higher than its pre-set target of 24 percent. And consumer electronics titan is likely to produce high-end digital cameras in the country, according to Hideki Ozawa, president and chief executive officer of Canon China.

The sales target for the world's largest digital camera manufacturer was a 24 per cent increase for 2005, in contrast to the firm's annual revenues of USD450 million in 2004 in China.

Canon holds as much as 60 percent to 70 percent of China's digital single lens reflect camera market, ranking the first place. It is bringing up the rear in household small digital camera and jet printer sectors.

Canon completed the framework of its strategy in 2005 by putting spotlight on brands building of EOS, Powershot, DIGITAL IXUS, PRIMA, PhotoDV, SELPHY, PIXMA, LaserShot, and CanScan.

The higher-than-expected sales growth was mainly attributed to aggressive expansion efforts in recent years by the firm, which entered China nine years ago.

Hideki Ozawa said that the top priority for Canon now is to boost sales as it has finished "infrastructure construction," known as the firm's "first-phase plan."

"The second phase is from 2005 to 2010, in which we will focus on expanding our market share and increasing sales," he said. "In 2006, Canon China hopes to grow (annual revenue) by 30 per cent."

Ozawa, also president of Canon Asia Marketing Group, has set an ambitious goal to double the firm's annual revenues in China to USD1 billion by 2008.

Canon won approval from the Chinese Government in 2004 to directly import and sell its products in China, which has given a major boost to sales.

Previously, the company's products had to be imported via Hong Kong, and its manufacturing facilities in China were solely focused on exports.

China's consumer electronics market, despite heated price wars, still offers a big opportunity for Canon. It boasts a wide portfolio of imaging products including cameras, camcorders, printers, copiers and scanners, noted Ozawa, adding: "The world of digital photography is growing with remarkable speed. The compact digital camera market in China is increasing by 50 per cent every year."

"Demand for professional digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) has never been so large, both in technology and in variety of needs."

According to US-based research firm IDC, China's consumer electronics market was worth CNY 61.60 billion in 2004 and is expected to hit CNY 159.64 billion by 2009.

A total of 5.3 million digital cameras were sold in China last year, showed statistics by data tracking firm GFK China.

The figure is forecast to grow by 32 per cent to 7 million units this year. Around 109,000 camcorders are projected to be sold this year. Sony and Canon dominate China's digital imaging market.

Ozawa said Canon will strengthen research and development as well as its localization efforts in China to help it achieve the USD1 billion goal by 2008.

He also said Canon will launch the Canon Asia Expo in Beijing from August 31 to September 3 to display the firm's vision and future technology.

[USD 1 = CNY 8.04777157]

From The Economic Observer, Page 1, Thursday, March 09, 2006
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