Domestic shipments of consumer electronics goods in Japan grew 11.6 percent in March from a year earlier to 221.6 billion yen, marking a fourth consecutive monthly rise.
The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said Tuesday that the surge was led by continued brisk shipments of liquid crystal display television sets, plasma display panel TVs, DVDs and car-navigation systems.
By product category, shipments of visual equipment climbed 13.3 percent to 137.8 billion yen for the ninth straight monthly gain. DVD shipments rose 23.9 percent to 506,000 units. Shipments of DVD player/recorders more than doubled to 237,000 units.
Shipments of LCD TVs came to 216,000 units, up 72.3 percent, and plasma display TV shipments came to 23,000 units, up 24.7 percent.
Reflecting a shift in consumer preferences to flat-panel TVs, shipments of cathode ray tube TV sets fell for the 22nd straight month, down 17.1 percent to 663,000 units.
In the audio-related goods sector, including stereos and minidisk players, shipments came to 20.8 billion yen, down 15.2 percent. This sector has been following a downtrend in terms of year-on-year percentage changes since March 2000.
In the field of automobile audiovisual and electronic equipment, shipments grew 20.1 percent to 63.1 billion yen for the 19th straight monthly gain.
Shipments of car-navigation systems climbed 29.4 percent to 337,000 units, with DVD-ROM-type navigation systems accounting for 254,000 units, up 24.4 percent.