INTERNET LAW - LG Electronics aims to post over $10 bil. in European sales in 2010

Korea's LG Electronics Inc. will post more than $10 billion in sales from the European market in 2010, thanks to increasing demand for its premium products such as mobile phones and flat-panel TVs, a top executive said Thursday (Aug. 30).

"Sales from the European market are expected to grow more than 20 percent this year to $7 billion and the figure will jump to $12 billion in 2010," James Kim, head of LG Electronics' European business, told reporters in a press conference here.

The growth will come mostly from strong demand for LG Electronics' key export items such as mobile handsets and display products, he added.

"In the European markets, our premium handset products such as Chocolate, Shine and Prada phone models have been a huge hit, while PDP and LCD TVs along with other goods are keeping their superiority in the high-end consumer electronics sector," Kim said.

The executive expected his company will sell more than 10 million handsets in Europe this year, up 25 percent from a year earlier, and said it will become a leading mobile phone maker here through strengthened partnership with local telecom operators and introduction of a diverse line-up of cell phone products.

Kim also said he aims to sell more than 4 million units of flat panel TVs equipped with LCD and PDP screens in Europe this year, more than double the figure reported a year earlier.

He made the ambitious business forecast at the Internationale Funk Ausstellungan, a global tech fair underway in Berlin. LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. and other Korean companies will showcase their latest products and technologies during the six-day exhibition.

LG is the world's fifth-largest mobile phone maker and produces a wide range of consumer electronics goods such as refrigerators and air conditioners.

It earned 384.6 billion won ($409 million) during the second quarter of this year, a turnaround from a loss of 9.7 billion won a year earlier thanks to strong sales of mobile handsets.