LG starts building plant in Sao Paulo

LG Electronics Co. has begun to expand its mobile phone handset production base in Brazil as part of its aggressive strategy in the Latin American market. The electronics maker said yesterday it held a ground-breaking ceremony for a new plant in Taubate, Sao Paulo state, on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by Kim Ssang-su, chief executive officer and vice chairman of LG Electronics, and Geraldo Alckmin, governor of Sao Paulo state. Mr. Kim said the new plant would lower LG’s logistics costs in the region. The construction should be be finished in April, LG Electronics said. The new plant would help LG’s Taubate subsidiary produce 6.5 million cellular phones on the Code Division Multiple Access technology and the Global System for Mobiles annually in 2007, which is three times that of the current production. With the expansion of the Taubate subsidiary, LG Electronics said it would be able to make 70 million mobile phone handsets annually worldwide by the end of next year. LG Electronics will supply 2 million mobile phones to Brazil this year, up 135 percent from last year. The company is aiming to take the top position in the market by 2006. It said it has a 45-percent market share for high-end handsets on CDMA technology in the country of nearly 180 million people. by Lee Hyun-sang, Moon So-young