Canon may move HK headquarters

Canon Inc, Japan's largest office-equipment maker, is may move its regional headquarters to Beijing from Hong Kong in two years, an company official said.

"Canon currently has three regional offices in Asia -- says Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong with the latter serving as our regional headquarters," Yoroku Adachi (足達洋六), a board member of Canon Inc, said earlier in June during a business visit to Taiwan.

"But in view of a booming market developed in China, there's the need for us to make such a move," said Adachi, who also doubles as president and CEO of Canon China Co in Beijing.

Canon makes some products in Taiwan, but most are made in China. "We have set up eight plants in China, located in Dalian, Tianjin, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Suzhou. In Taiwan we have one camera factory in Taichung, which is the oldest factory that Canon has outside Japan," Adachi said.

While the Japanese company said it has developed technologies related to office equipment, such as fax machines, scanners, digital cameras, color copiers and laser printers, it is considering to move some of our production lines abroad due to cost concerns, Adachi said.

The Japanese-language Nihon Keizai reported yesterday that Canon has decided to outsource around 80 percent of its laser printers to China by next year. The report said Canon will invest "several hundred million yen" to double annual output at its Dalian plant, in Liaoning Province, to 1 million units, while expanding the plant's workforce by 500 to 2,000 next year.

Dalian will be one of Canon's main production bases for laser printer exports to US companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co, the report said.

The company will increase printer production at another Chinese plant in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, to 5 million units from 3 million by the end of next year, the report said.

Falling demand is driving down laser printer prices. Canon's laser printer sales fell 22 percent in the six months ended June 30 compared with the year-earlier period, the company said.

But the Japanese company is also considering to place more orders to Taiwanese parts and components makers, Adachi said.