Camera makers eye high-end market growth

Camera makers, such as Canon Corp and Sony Corp, see dramatic growth in China's high-end camera market and plan to expand operations in smaller cities this year, industry executives told China Daily on Friday at the 15th China International Photograph and Electrical Imaging Machinery and Technology Fair.

China is already the largest market in terms of high-end camera sales, Howard Ozawa, president and CEO of Canon China, told China Daily.

Although professional cameras are more expensive in China than in other countries, China has a faster growth rate compared with developed economies such as the United States and Japan.

"China has already become the largest market for selling our latest high-end camera 5D Mark III, which started to sell last month and has almost sold out now," he said.

Ozawa said sales revenue in China is expected to reach $10 billion by the end of 2016 with 30 percent year-on-year growth this year.

High-end digital single lens reflex cameras account for about 50 percent of the total sales of all Canon cameras in China, which is "much bigger than other countries", said Ozawa.

"China will become our largest market exceeding the US this year," said Sunil Kaul, managing director of the German camera maker Leica Camera Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. He said China accounts for about half of the company's sales of $120 million in the Asia-Pacific region.

Another Japanese company, Nikon, also launched a new high-end camera at the fair, the D3200, with 2416 pixels and WiFi embedded.

The companies will place greater emphasis on smaller cities this year.

According to a report released by China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, by the end of 2011, in large and medium-sized cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, about 75 percent of the population already had cameras, so there is little room for low-end camera growth in those cities.

Sony plans to penetrate lower-tier cities this year by holding customer experience events in small cities and accelerating the development of online stores, Chen Ning, general manager of Sony China Ltd Digital Imaging Products Division, said.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd held about 18 percent of the digital camera market last year, said Myoung Sup-han, president of the company's digital imaging business. "This year, Samsung will focus on developing target customers unfamiliar with cameras," he added.

tuoyannan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/21/2012 page9)