Sony Corp aims to boost flat TV sales in the next business year from April and will vary its procurement of LCD panels to help lower costs and turn its struggling TV operations profitable, a top executive said. Raising sales will be a challenge, given that Samsung and LG of South Korea, the world's top two makers of flat TVs, have just set ambitious targets for the year and with market growth expected to slow.
Last week Sony cut its flat TV sales forecast for the year to March by 2 million sets to 23 million, hit by weaker-than-expected demand during the holiday shopping season and a delay in the launch of new models.
Sony aims to beat that lower target in the next year to March 2012, chief financial officer Masaru Kato told Reuters.
"We must keep in line with growth in the market," Kato said in an interview at the company's Tokyo headquarters, declining to give a target figure because the plan is still under discussion.
Samsung aims to sell 45 million units and LG 41 million in 2011.
The global LCD TV market is set to grow slightly more than 10 percent by units in 2011, a much slower pace than in recent years, according to research firm DisplaySearch. Developing markets are expected to grow by 28 percent, while unit sales are expected to fall slightly in developed markets.
The maker of Bravia TVs and PlayStation game consoles has been bleeding red ink from its TV division for six years and says it will make a loss again in the year to March, hit by the strong yen, higher than expected panel costs and price competition.