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For those of you watching the international scene this tidbit just in from iSuppli Corp. should help round out your perspective. _Dale

El Segundo, Calif., Aug. 8, 2007-Despite numerous trade barriers, China's television exports will surpass its domestic shipments for the first time in 2007, iSuppli Corp. predicts.

China is set to export 39.6 million televisions in 2007, compared to 38.3 million sets shipped in the domestic market. In comparison, China in 2006 had 36.8 million domestic TV shipments and 34.8 million exports.

"China's rising exports come as a direct result of the Japanese manufacturers exiting the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) television market in order to focus their efforts on higher-margin LCD-TVs and Plasma Display Panel (PDP) TVs," said Kathleen Zhang, China industry analyst at iSuppli. "Due to the availability of a local supply chain and continued international demand for CRT TVs, China has taken over this market from the Japanese."

The strong exports are continuing despite a decline in shipments of CRT-TVs to the United States.

DTV transition troubles

China's CRT-TV exporters are facing increasing obstacles to penetrating the U.S. market due to new requirements for digital tuners on sets sold in the nation. Starting on Mar. 1, all televisions that include a tuner must incorporate a built-in Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) Digital Television (DTV) tuner.

This requirement-which will allow consumers in the United States to receive digital television signals-had a major impact on exports in the first quarter as CRT shipments dropped 38 percent compared with the previous quarter and down 6 percent compared to the same quarter in 2006. Chinese OEMs are hesitating to export TVs to the U.S. market in fear of being charged high royalties-exceeding $20 a set.

Export growth ahead

However, Chinese TV makers already are beginning to adjust to adjust to the changed market conditions in order to preserve their rapid export growth.

iSuppli believes the market for Chinese television exports will grow to 54.5 million units by 2011, managing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.7 percent from 34.8 million in 2006. Domestic Chinese television shipments will grow to 45.8 million units by 2011, rising at a CAGR of 4.5 percent from 36.8 million units in 2006. As China transitions to LCD TVs, iSuppli believes television exports will continue to rise as OEMs shift from shipping CRTs to shipping more desirable and higher-margin flat-panel offerings.

The attached figure presents iSuppli's forecast for China's domestic and export television market for the period of 2006 through 2011.

A taxing situation

Currently, high duty rates and non-tariff barriers are preventing all China-branded televisions from entering high volume markets in Europe and the United States. To circumvent this, China's TV manufacturers have begun to establish factories in European Union member countries and Latin America in order to avoid having the label of "Made in China," despite the fact Chinese companies are producing the sets.

The ATSC royalties also represent a challenge for Chinese OEMs that want to avoid having to pay an additional fee for each set that is exported to a different country. iSuppli believes that China's manufacturers have a long way to go before they can successfully sell their products under their own brand names in Europe and the United States.

To learn further details about this topic, read Zhang's new report, entitled: China's Export TV Market to Surpass Domestic Production. Please visit: http://www.isuppli.com/catalog/detail.asp?id=8696

Journalists, please respond to this e-mail for a free press copy of this report.

For more information, please contact:

Jonathan Cassell

Editorial Director and Manager, Public Relations

iSuppli Corporation

Office: 408.654.1714

Mobile: 408.921.3754

www.isuppli.com