Japan Opt Products Output to Show Minus Growth for F2008-09

Japanese domestic output of optoelectronic products, including digital appliances, telecommunication products, solar cells and related components, is expected to show year-on-year minus growth in fiscal 2008 (Apr08-Mar09) and fiscal 2009 (Apr09-Mar10), announced Optoelectronic Industry & Technology Development Association (OITDA) on Thursday. OITDA estimates annual output value at 7.964 trillion yen for fiscal 2008, which would decrease by 1.3% year-on-year and show first minus since fiscal 2005. The association forecasts annual output at 7.758 trillion yen for fiscal 2009, down by 2.6% year-on-year. Domestic output is expected to decrease widely for displays and digital cameras along economy recession.

Domestic production of displays and related components, which accounts for about 45% in the total optoelectronic products output, is estimated to show 1.6% year-on-year growth in fiscal 2008 thanks to the steady demand during the first half year. The output growth is forecasted to turn minus by 2.4% in fiscal 2009.

Among input-output appliances, those which account for above 20% in the total optoelectronic products output, domestic production of digital camera is expected to represent first minus growth in fiscal 2008 by 7.6% to 907.8 billion yen. Digital camera production is forecasted to continue down growth in fiscal 2009 by 5.4%.

On the other hand, domestic production could keep stable for optical telecom products and solar cells for fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009. Domestic production of telecom related products is estimated to increase by 6.8% year-on-year to 574 billion yen in fiscal 2008 and by 2.5% year-on-year to 588.6 billion yen in fiscal 2009, thanks to the demand expansion for optical components used for Fiber-to-the-Home networks. Solar cell output is expected to continue year-on-year plus growth for 3 consecutive years toward fiscal 2009. The output is forecasted to increase by 2.1% to 210.6 billion yen in fiscal 2009.