China: video compact disc industry growing rapidly
03/09/98
BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0817 gmt 5 Mar 98/BBC Worldwide Monitoring/(c) BBC
Text of report by Xinhua news agency
Beijing, 5th March: The video compact disc ( VCD ) industry of China has witnessed explosive growth during the past three years, becoming a major money-maker for China's electronics industry.
China produced more than 10m VCD players last year. The VCD industry, with a sales volume of 20bn yuan in 1997, employs some 20 million people. Statistics from the Ministry of Internal Trade show that the number of VCD players sold in the country's major department stores last year was 10 times the figure of 1996. More than 12 per cent of households in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai own VCD players. Domestic VCD players account for 87 per cent of the Chinese market.
While Chinese-made VCD players are expanding their share of this emerging market, their prices have also dropped dramatically during the last three years. A VCD player sold for more than 4,000 yuan in 1995, 2,800 yuan at the beginning of 1996, 1,700 yuan at the end of 1996, and finally, to 1,200 yuan last year. Experts predict tougher competition in the VCD market this year, but that the sector will continue to have good market prospects. They urged VCD manufacturers to improve technology and establish better brand-name identification. |
