A factory of Panasonic Corporation in the Thang Long II Industrial Park in the northern province of Hung Yen. The Japanese firm will officially inaugurate a new factory to manufacture electrical devices in the VSIP II-Annex Industrial Park in the southern province of Binh Duong on November 15. — Photo panasonic.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Japan's Panasonic Corporation has announced plans to expand its production of electrical devices in Viet Nam to meet rising domestic demand, Vietnamplus reported on November 10.

The corporation's member company, Panasonic Eco Solutions Vietnam Company Ltd, will inaugurate a new factory to manufacture electrical devices in the VSIP II-Annex Industrial Park in the southern province of Binh Duong on November 15.

The VND396-billion (US$18.8-million) factory is expected to produce about 30 million electrical devices such as sockets and power switches in the first year.

Takashi Ogasawara, President of Panasonic Eco Solutions Vietnam, told Vietnamplus online newspaper that the new factory will be set up because of rising demand in the Vietnamese market.

"We are now producing electrical devices in Thailand and exporting them to Viet Nam. The production in the factory in Thailand increased by 140 per cent this year over the same period last year, because of rising demand in Viet Nam," he said.

Ogasawara added that the new factory's products will be partly exported to Japan. He listed the biggest hurdles for operating the factory as being the unstable exchange rates, high labour costs and lack of input materials.

He said that only a few Vietnamese companies are capable of providing input materials to the corporation. "Screws, which are essential parts of electrical devices, are imported from abroad. It will be better if Viet Nam has available sources of screws. In general, the localisation rate of the factory is just about a few per cent," Ogasawara pointed out. — VNS