Electronics makers paint rosy outlook

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Electronics producers have painted a rosy outlook for sales in the domestic market next year, despite the government's plan to raise fuel prices.

The Electronics Marketer Club (EMC), which is an association of leading electronics producers operating in the country, forecasts that domestic sales will increase by between 14 percent and 20 percent next year, which it said was a "conservative target".

"The target takes into account the impact of the fuel prices hike on public consumption," EMC chairman Sung Khiun said as quoted by Antara.

He said that the fuel price hike would have an impact on lower to middle income consumers, but not the middle to upper income group.

As such, he said, a high growth in sales would mostly occur in the high-end market.

The EMC estimated that television sales would increase from 4 million units this year to 4.55 million units next year.

Refrigerator sales will rise by 12 percent to 1.9 million next year from 1.7 million this year. Meanwhile, both air conditioner and washing machine sales are expected to expand by 21 percent.

A significant jump would happen in the digital versatile disk (DVD) player market, with sales expected to surge by 100 percent to 900,000 units next year from 450,000 units in 2004.

"DVD player sales will surge as people shift from VCD (Video Compact Disk) to DVD," said Sung, who is also LG Electronics Indonesia's general manager for marketing and sales.

Aside from expected higher economic growth, Sung said, another factor that makes electronics producers optimistic about sales next year was the government's commitment to curb smuggling.

Electronics producers have long complained about rampant smuggling, saying it was hard to develop a strong electronics industry in the country, as 50 percent of electronics traded in Indonesia are smuggled goods.