Samsung builds TVs on Argentinian island

KOREAN TECH GIANT Samsung is the latest firm to embrace local production of electronics in Argentina as a way to increase its earnings on local sales, by taking advantage of an industrial promotion law which sets tax breaks and lowers import duties.

In this case, the firm will outsource the manufacture of one of its lines of LCD TVs to one of the existing firms with manufacturing plants at Argentina's southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego (TDF). It plans to eventually build its own manufacturing plant in the South Atlantic.

Plenty of other electronics and household appliances are produced in Argentina's TDF taking advantage of the island's government-run industry promotion programmes, most notably Philips which produces some of its TVs here. You can find a quite good overview of the tax breaks and duty-free exemptions for industrial production in TDF over here. Most of the firms building electronics in TDF are located in Rio Grande which has a population of 60,000 and is considered the "industrial capital" of the island.

The report, which surfaced last week says, Samsung will build the "R8" line of 32-inch LCDs in the Electrofueguina manufacturing plant on TDF. The company says a 40-inch version will also become available later this year. The firm says one-fourth of its LCD sales will be produced locally, and it's estimated that the local market for LCDs will double this year, to reach about 70,000 units.

Samsung says it's evaluating building its own manufacturing plant, which would mean a $20M USD investment in the island. Samsung's local market share in the LCD sector will reach 15 per cent said Sebastián Rial, Consumer Electronics manager at the firm. He said that once Samsung's own plant is built it could manufacture other products like home theatre systems. The High-Def 'Series 6' presented last week is, however, imported.

Since Brazil and Argentina are part of the Mercosur common market, goods produced in one country do not pay import duties when entering another member country.

Philips is for instance already selling notebooks manufactured in Brazil, as you can see over here. here. µ