Panasonic may curb solar panel, lithium battery

Writer： admin Time：2022-07-11 10:44:08 Browse：0℃

TOKYO (Reuters) - Electronics conglomerate Panasonic Corp may curtail its expanded production ofsolar panels and small lithium batteries used in PCs and other devices as part of new round of restructuring, two sources at the company told Reuters.

Panasonic recently built a solar panel plant in Malaysia for 45 billion yen ($564 million), upping capacity by one-third to 900 megawatts. Plans to further ramp up production to 1.5 gigawatts may be scaled back, however, because of weak demand, particularly in Europe, the sources said on condition they were not identified.

Panasonic's new president, Kazuhiro Tsuga, has promised a new revival plan for the Japanese company by the end of the current business year next March 31. He has said he will weed out loss-making or low-profitability units.

The firm's business in small lithium batteries has been hurt by price competition from Korean and Chinese competitors. Falling into the red last year, it was aiming to return to profit this year by shifting production to China, where costs are lower, but may post a loss instead, the sources said.