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Berlin: LG Electronics expects its plasma business to break even at the operating level this month, the head of its digital display business said in an interview.
"We anticipate the turnaround for our panel business will be next month [September]," said Simon Kang, who is responsible for LG's plasma business, which makes screens for LG's own televisions and for external customers.
Sales of LG's plasma displays fell 16 per cent in the second quarter from their first-quarter level, and the display unit's operating loss margin deepened to 24.2 per cent.
Kang said price declines for plasma panels were slowing in the second half of 2007 as an oversupply situation was coming to an end, but said overall flat-screen prices for the wider market in 2007 would likely still be 30-35 per cent lower than 2006 after a steep first-half decline.
He said LG's plasma production was currently running at close to 100 per cent of capacity.
"I don't see a price decrease as steep next year," he said.
Kang added in an interview at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin that LG should sell three million plasma panels this year and more than 4 million next year, and said LG intended to remain in the plasma business for the long term.
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