TOKYO, May 01, 2003 (Kyodo via COMTEX) --
Sony Corp. has instructed all its 52
overseas factories to build up inventories of audiovisual equipment
components to cope with a possible disruption of the goods
distribution market due to the spread of severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS) in Asia and beyond, sources close to the plan said
Thursday.
Sony has also asked several hundreds of parts suppliers in Japan
and China to cooperate in securing sufficient components for use by
the Sony factories, the sources said.
Many Japanese parts manufacturers are making products in China, the
country hardest hit by the epidemic.
Sony is the first major Japanese electronics company to take action
in parts procurement in connection with the spread of SARS.
If other major electronics companies follow suit, parts demand and
their prices will surge, dealing a blow to the firms' earnings.
The sources did not disclose the names of components whose
inventories will be expanded, other than Chinese-made components for
use in television sets.
If the spread of SARS disrupts the world distribution market, Sony
will see its six factories in China and 19 in Japan affected most,
industry observers say.
About 4,000 companies supply parts to Sony, many of them from Japan
and China.
2003 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945
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