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By: Richard Del Cazzo
Web site: http://www.hdtv-hdtv.com
Flat screen plasma color televisions of more than ten domestic
brands have seen price reductions of 10-35 percent over the
past one month, with 46-inch Flat screen plasma televisions
priced below 29,000 yuan (US$3,500), the price only for a
40-inch plasma TV last year, the Shanghai Morning Post reported
today.
Flat screen plasma television, with good picture quality,
are favored by high-end consumers in Shanghai, and the number
of plasma TV brand increased from less than ten last year
to more than 20 currently, fueling the competition, said an
industry analyst.
Shanghai SVA 42-inch flat screen plasma television is sold
at 22,800 yuan, with other domestic 42-inch models priced
at around 25,000 yuan.
In order to keep their market shares, foreign brands began
to follow suit. Samsung cut its 42-inch plasma TV prices from
35,000 yuan to 29,000 yuan; LG slashed the prices of 42-inch
plasma models below 30,000 yuan; Hitachi and Panasonic also
cut the prices of the same models by 2,000 yuan.
Price reductions have boosted the sales. "We only sold
more than flat screen plasma television TVs every month last
year, but the average monthly sales hit 150 this year, with
those of SVA, Samsung and LG accounting for 60 percent of
the total sales," said a spokesman with the household
appliance city of the Shanghai Business Center.
Selling plasma TVs is able to gain hefty profits, so they
have big room for price reductions, said an industry observer.
The fiercer competition and foreign TV manufacturers' transference
of their production bases to the Chinese mainland are expected
to further cut the prices of 42-inch flat screen plasma television
models below 20,000 yuan by the end of this year, the observer
pointed out.
Only 15,000 flat screen plasma televisions were sold in China
last year, while this year, the sales are expected to hit
15,000 in Shanghai, according to the Shanghai Household Electrical
Appliance Association.
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