JAPAN'S ASAHI GLASS TO WITHDRAW FROM CRT GLASS MARKET

Japan's Asahi Glass Co. (TSE:5201) announced Friday that it is completely withdrawing from the CRT glass business.

Subsidiary Hankuk Electric Glass Co. (KSE:009720) in Gumi, South Korea, stopped making CRT glass in mid-November, with sales to wrap up at the end of February. Asahi Glass will book an extraordinary loss of 9.5 billion yen (US$114.75 million) for the fiscal year ending this month.

In October, the Japanese glass maker raised its stake in the South Korean unit and decided to delist it. The South Korean firm recorded around 10.2 billion yen in sales the previous fiscal year, generating an operating profit of 575 million yen.

The expansion of the flat-panel television market has slashed demand for CRT TVs. In addition to bolstering its LCD panel glass business, Asahi Glass has been withdrawing from CRT glass in stages. It ended domestic output in 2006 and later ceased production in Indonesia and Taiwan, leaving South Korea as its sole manufacturing site.

The company also announced that it will book a 7.5 billion yen extraordinary loss this fiscal year due to a partial write-down of fixed assets at its electronic materials business.