Samsung fears the weakening demand in its third biggest market after Europe and the US, Kim Young-ha, chief executive of Samsung Electronics China, admits.
The Chinese demand has declined after the government dampened consumer sentiment by imposing austerity measures against spending on technology products. Overall demand for technology goods is predicted to grow by about 7% only from 10% in 2011.
A slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy would have implications for a global economy, especially with the eurozone crisis. China is the world’s biggest internet, smartphone and flat-panel TV market with more than 1 billion consumers.
Due to the government’s policies promoting discretionary spending, retail sales growth slowed to 14.1%, the lowest rate for over a year. Samsung is the main competitor of Apple in China, with a wide variety of electronic goods. Samsung is still confident of achieving 30-40% revenue growth despite declining consumer demand, says Kim.
Read more at the Financial Times