Nippon Electric Glass Co. and Sumitomo Corp. have jointly received an order from El-Araby Co., Egypt“s leading maker of household appliances, for a plant to produce glass tubes for fluorescent lights…
Nippon Electric Glass Co. and Sumitomo Corp. have jointly received an order from El-Araby Co., Egypt“s leading maker of household appliances, for a plant to produce glass tubes for fluorescent lights. It is the first time that Nippon Electric Glass has exported this type of plant to the Middle East or Africa, after doing so mainly to China and Southeast Asia. Nippon Electric Glass plans to start building the plant in autumn 2005, with handover of the completed project scheduled for the end of 2006. The JPY 1.1 billion facility will have a production capacity of 20 million glass tubes a year, informed sources said. Until now, El-Araby has produced fluorescent lights under license from Toshiba Corp., sourcing all its glass tube requirements from Thailand and elsewhere. The new plant will allow it to produce fluorescent lights on an integrated basis by sourcing all necessary materials, including silicon and sand, domestically. With annual group sales totaling almost USD 300 million, El-Araby enjoys a 50% share of the domestic color TV market.