To: kemble s. matter who wrote (109430 ) 3/15/1999 8:32:00 AM From: Mohan Marette Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 176387
China '98 PC, Telecom Production Surges - NBS Hi Kemble: Some news about IT production in China.Note that domestic production has gone up and imports have gone down.Considering Dell now is domestic producer, I think this is good news for the company. ==================================== Source:NewsBytes 14 Mar 1999, 6:58 PM CST By Martyn Williams, Newsbytes. TOKYO, JAPAN, Domestic production of personal computers and telecommunications surged in 1998, according to data just released by China's National Bureau of Statistics. At the same time, the government reported decreasing sales of imported PCs in China in 1998 and forecast the entire market will continue double-digit growth for at least the next two years. Personal computer production in China totaled 3.6 million units in 1998, up 41.1 percent, and production of larger computers rose 8.2 percent to 4,237 units, according to NBS data reported by the Xinhua news agency. In the telecommunications sector, production of mobile communication equipment rocketed ahead 53.7 percent to 19 million units. Optical communications equipment production was 25.6 percent up on the previous year at 22,234 units and that of communication equipment rose 16.9 percent to 8,209 units. Production of program-controlled switchboards advanced 51.4 percent to 42.5 million. As the NBS reported increasing production of personal computers, the Beijing-based Business Weekly reported government figures showed sales of PCs in 1998 were up 16.6 percent on 1997. The increase, although healthy, is nowhere near the 66.7 percent jump in PC sales seen in 1997. The large increase in domestic production of personal computers and the smaller expansion in the market indicates sales of imported PCs fell in 1998. The newspaper reported imports of computer-related products fell 39.2 percent to US$2.69 billion last year. One are where imports remained strong was software, which saw import value rise 23.2 percent on the year. Sales of computer hardware increased 11.1 percent on the year and across the entire computer industry, sales were up 13.9 percent on the previous year. The Center of Computer and Microelectronics Industry Development (CCID) of the Ministry of Information Industry, which released the data, predicted the market will expand 18.2 percent in 1999 to 175 billion yuan (US$21.1 billion) and grow by a further 20 percent in 2000. Exchange rate: $1 = 8.3 yuan