Matsushita eyeing global DVD recorders market to drive up earnings

, along with its Japanese rivals, is aiming to lure foreign
consumers with the new product, which digitally records high quality
images onto a DVD disc, to stay competitive during the upcoming Christmas
sales season.

Global demand for DVD recorders was 200,000 units in
the year to March 2002. Demand jumped to 1.3 million units in the
following year, according to the Japan Electronics and Information
Technology Industries Association (JEITA).

"We realise it would be difficult to maintain our
50-percent share of the market when the market itself is expanding so
rapidly, especially overseas. We are considering setting up a new
production site in Europe (in Germany) to meet the demand," he (Akira
Kadota, spokesman for Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Ltd.) said.

Japanese companies usually focus on the domestic
market for a year or two when launching new products, before introducing
them at overseas, he said. "But the opportunity cost of not going global
with DVD recorders is huge," Kadota said.

Japanese makers are a step ahead of foreign rivals in
making and marketing DVD recorders, given the Japanese consumer's appetite
for new media to record television shows, JEITA spokesman Kazuhiko Oi
said.

"Sales of DVD players have grown rapidly on such
factors as a variety of rental DVD titles. But considering that North
American and European consumers record television programmes less
frequently (than the Japanese), I am not sure if overseas demand for DVD
recorders will grow as rapidly as manufacturers hope," Oi
said.