Exhibitors prepare the Panasonic exhibit space. (Photo : Reuters)
News of the Panasonic brand's plan to shut down its Chinese television manufacturing facility in Shandong was published for the first time by prominent Japanese business publication Nikkei on Saturday.
Even though the electronics corporation had reportedly not spoken with the 300 workers at the Chinese facility, an unidentified source told the Reuters news agency that Panasonic turned off the power in Shandong on Friday. In total, Panasonic maintains nine television-manufacturing plants throughout the world.
While Panasonic had been selling 200,000 TV sets a year in China, the turnover was not lucrative enough to maintain an operational base in the East Asian nation.
According to Reuters, Panasonic's Mexican plant is in the same situation--its annual production output figure of 500,000, most of which were sold on the U.S. electrical goods market, is unable to sustain its existence.
However, Reuters was unable to verify the claim regarding Mexico, where Panasonic oversees production at two manufacturing facilities.
The anonymous source, who is apparently an employee of Panasonic, identified "severe price competition" and "slowing market growth" as the primary reasons for the closure decision in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Panasonic has recorded losses for six consecutive years in the area of television sales, forming part of a trend that has also affected Toshiba Corp. and Sharp Corp., both of which have publicly stated that they intend to pare down the scale of their TV businesses.
It seems that Panasonic will continue to run its TV factories in Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia, where "high-end" products are being made, while the Japanese company has also been investing in a new lithium-ion battery factory owned by Elon Musk, under his widely publicized Tesla Motors brand.
