October 22, 2004 – In September, consumer electronics shipments in Japan grew 7.6% from a year before to 200.6 billion yen, up for the 10th consecutive month, an industry group said Thursday, according to Jiji Press Ltd.

Strong demand for flat-panel television sets and digital versatile disc recorders boosted overall shipments, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said.

Among flat-panel TVs, those with LCDs shot up 59% to 222,000 units and plasma display panel TVs grew 3.5% to 27,000 units, the association said.

DVD recorders jumped 86.6% to 295,000 units.
But shipments of all color TV sets decreased 7.2% to 685,000 units, the first drop in four months, due to a sharp drop in cathode ray tube TVs, which accounted for some 60%, it said.

Car navigation systems and other equipment for automobiles increased 21.6% to 56.1 billion yen, marking the fourth consecutive rise, but shipments of audio equipment declined 16.1% to 15 billion yen