Jap Dumping Bludgeons Tv Shell Units

Large scale dumping of glass shells -- used for television picture tubes -- by Japanese manufacturers has virtually driven the only domestic manufacturers of the product---Samcor Ltd and Hotline Glass Ltd---out of business.

Samcor -- the joint venture between the Samtel group and the Corning company of US -- and Hotline Ltd, have already slashed prices but are continuing to lose their market share rapidly owing to price cutting by the Japanese glass makers led by NEG, one of the biggest players in the business, a spokesman for the Electronic Component Industries Association (ECIA) said.

The two companies are members of ECIA. Samcor and Hotline, which hitherto managed to make a profitable margin at

 

Rs 298 per glass sheet, have been forced to reduce prices to about Rs 250, but the Japanese makers sell even cheaper at Rs 240 per glass sheet.

As a result Samcor and Hotline have piled up huge inventories and lower sales realisation recorded each month has made repayment of debts to creditor institutions an uphill task.

Hotline, in particular, has been badly hit and is believed to have defaulted on its annual instalments and interest repayments obligations, the spokesman said.