December swoom for TV, fridge salesmen<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
While holiday festivities draw nigh, electronic products
\nmanufacturers are not so cheerful as sales growth this year is
\nexpected to be slower than initially projected.<\/p>\n
Lee Khang Hyun, chairman of the Association of Electronic
\nIndustry (Gabel), said that sales in 2002 were estimated to grow
\nby only 10 percent compared to the previous projection of 25
\npercent.<\/p>\n
\"This year's holiday season is not too good. Normally, sales
\npick up in the second semester but it's slightly lower now than
\nlast year's,\" Lee told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He said that people now preferred to save their money to
\nfinance their longer vacation period.<\/p>\n
The government has recently extended the holiday period for
\nthe Muslim Idul Fitri celebration to three days from the
\ntraditionally two-day period, and to two days for Christmas.<\/p>\n
According to him, sales of televisions and refrigerators in
\nthe past had always been good in the run up to the Idul Fitri or
\nChristmas celebrations.<\/p>\n
\"But during this holiday, refrigerator and TV sales are not
\ntoo good,\" Lee remarked.<\/p>\n
He speculated that the weaker sales performance could be
\nattributed to the Oct. 12 Bali bombing incident which had hurt
\nconsumers sentiment and weakened the exchange rate of the rupiah
\nagainst the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n
Since the production of electronic goods are heavily dependent
\non imported raw materials, a favorable exchange rate is crucial
\nto make the goods more affordable to the people.<\/p>\n
\"People haven't recovered from the event. They're still
\nwaiting to see what transpires with the exchange rate to get a
\nbetter price,\" Lee said.<\/p>\n
The declining trend in the sales of electronic goods has
\nactually been felt since the middle of this year. Sales of TVs
\nwere down 20 percent in July to 220,000 units compared to the
\nprevious month, while the sales of refrigerators dropped by more
\nthan 22 percent to 110,000 units.<\/p>\n
Massive layoffs in many textile companies in the beginning of
\nthe year had also contributed to the sluggish sales performance.<\/p>\n
Many manufacturers initially hoped that the year-end
\nfestivities would help boost sales in the second semester,
\nprojecting TV sales to reach 2.7 million units, while sales of
\nrefrigerators would reach 1.5 million.<\/p>",
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