The South Korean electronics giant LG has chosen Thailand as the first Asean production base for its latest range of televisions.

The company will spend about 200 million baht next year on molds, a clean room and other facilities at its Rayong factory to produce the LED and LCD sets locally, said Heegol Lee, general marketing manager for home entertainment at LG Electronics (Thailand) Co. Exports will account for about 25 percent of total output. Another 340 million baht will be spent locally next year on promoting LG televisions, with a focus on LCD sets.

Overall demand for televisions shrank by 4.3 percent over the first eight months of the year. But demand for plasma TVs grew by 40 percent in the period and the LCD segment surged by 80 percent, while demand for conventional and flat-screen sets slid. LED units currently account for just 2 percent of sales, but this is forecast to rise to 20 percent next year.

The new LED TV should lift the company's market share of the LCD TV segment to 25 percent by the year-end, up from 21 percent last year. The company aims to sell 3,000 units over the next three months. The two new products in the LG Live Borderless TV range are priced at 32,990 and 109,990 baht.

It expects overall sales this year will grow by 15 percent to 15 billion baht.