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Samsung upbeat on LCD TV consumption this year

South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co yesterday said Taiwan's demand for liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions would rebound in the final quarter on the back of the nation's solid economic growth.

Sales of LCD TVs in the Taiwanese market fell short of major TV brands' expectations over the past eight months as consumers were unwilling to spend on luxury items amid high credit card debt, a Samsung official said yesterday in Taipei.

Consumer spending grew by merely 1.7 percent in the first half of the year, and the figure is expected to stay low over the second half, the government's statistics agency, Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, said on Aug. 17.

"As Taiwan has robust economic growth, we remain optimistic about the demand for LCD TVs in the fourth quarter," said Jeon Yong-sung, president of Samsung Taiwan, on the sideline of a press conference to launch its first unite with a 40-inch screen.

The company aims to sell 10,000 40-inch LCD TVs by the end of the year, Jeon said. He added that Samsung expects Taiwan to consume about 650,000 LCD TVs this year, a forecast that is much higher than the average projection of 500,000 units by Samsung's industry peers.

Samsung expects total sales of TV sets in Taiwan -- including both flat-panel display TVs and cathode ray tube models -- to be about 850,000 units this year.

Samsung has a 13 percent share of global LCD TV sales and hopes to boost that to 15 percent by the end of the year. The company forecasts sales of 40 million units for the 12 months to December.

According to Texas-based research company DisplaySearch, the Korean firm was the world's second largest LCD TV vendor in the last quarter. But, in Taiwan, Samsung is only just starting to make its presence felt, competing with more than 30 foreign and local brands, including Sony Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, which own the Panasonic brand.

Sony and Matsushita only sold about 300,000 LCD TVs to local consumers during the first eight months of this year.

Jeon said Samsung intended to focus on boosting unit sales in the short term instead of expanding market share.

Jeon also said company research had found that Taiwanese people prefer LCD TVs over plasma-display-panel (PDP) TVs, so Samsung is considering whether to limit the introduction of new models to Taiwan next year.

TV sales will account for about four percent of Samsung's total revenues in Taiwan. The company expects to bring in about US$300 million from its local branch this year.
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