Mainland TV maker is hoping Asians will be tempted by its own-brand units
Mainland television maker Skyworth Digital Holdings is hoping to energise sluggish exports this year with an aggressive overseas own-brand sales plan.
The Hong Kong-listed firm has set an export growth target of 30 per cent to 2.5 million televisions this year, following a slight, 4 per cent growth to 1.91 million units last year.
Chairman Stephen Wong Wang-sang said exports would be driven by sales of high-end models to Southeast Asia under the firm's own brand.
'Last year, we strategically avoided the export of low-end products that yielded a very thin margin. This year, we have adjusted our production to high margin models,' Mr Wong said while announcing the firm's full-year results to March.
Skyworth, the mainland's fourth-largest television maker, has set an own-brand sales target of 50 per cent of exports by 2013, from 5 per cent last year.
The move is part of a growing trend by mainland enterprises of developing their own brands and technology as a reliance on foreign input has resulted in a squeezing of margins. However, Skyworth's exports to Europe and Japan will still take the form of original equipment manufacturing for international brands such as Sanyo, Hitachi and Philips.