Onein10ofworldsmobilesmadeinSZ
From: Shenzhen Daily
Updated: 2007-01-25 00:01
Tan Xiaomi
SHENZHEN exported more than 66.7 million mobiles last year, with one in 10 of the world"s handsets now made in the city, the Ministry of Commerce announced Tuesday.
The city recorded an 81.2 percent jump in the number of exported mobiles with the industry now ranking the fourth largest of Shenzhen"s exports. Shenzhen is China"s largest manufacturing base for mobile phones. Vice Mayor Liu Yingli told a forum that the city government is expecting to draft related policies to further boost the industry.
Some 55.8 million handsets were exported by 55 foreign joint ventures, accounting for nearly 83.6 percent of the total exports. Another 7.37 million were manufactured by State-owned companies including ZTE and Huawei Technologies.
Most mobile phones were shipped to the United States and European markets.
However, the industry"s annual revenue, approximately US$4.2 billion last year, increased less than 58 percent, despite output nearly doubling.
"Because more than 70 percent of exports were made by original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and profit margins fell 12.5 percent last year," said Chen Xiaotian, a spokesman for Shenzhen Customs. He said the key parts still needed to be imported.
The average price for an OEM mobile phone is US$66.2, compared with US$74.5 in 2005.
Chen said the city"s own-brand handsets, priced at US$54.7 each, also saw a 6 percent year-on-year fall in margins.
One third of the country"s 70 licensed handset makers have located their headquarters in Shenzhen.
Indian MCorp Global recently announced a purchase of 10 million mobile phones from Shenzhen-based home electronic appliance manufacturer Konka Group.