Domestic demand for DVDs and car-navigation systems was robust in February as overall shipments of electronic equipment continued to grow, an industry body said Thursday.
The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said DVD shipments soared 91.8 percent from a year earlier to 335,000 units in February due to strong replacement demand from VCR users and a jump in sales of hybrid HDD/DVD player-recorder models.
Shipments of car-navigation systems surged 50.5 percent to 231,000 units, while color TVs for cars grew 19.5 percent to 91,000 units.
Color TV shipments fell 7.6 percent to 588,000 units amid an increasing shift in demand to liquid-crystal color TVs, which grew 17.5 percent, and plasma-display panels, which registered a 52.3 percent jump.
In the audio sector, 270,000 units of MD-related equipment were shipped for an 18.7 percent increase, but shipments of CD players fell 26 percent and stereo units dropped 3 percent.
By value, shipments grew 2.8 percent to 83.3 billion yen for visual equipment and dropped 13.9 percent to 20.6 billion yen for audio equipment.
Overall shipment of electronic equipment in February increased 4 percent to 151.6 billion yen, marking the eighth straight month of year-on-year growth.