Panasonic to build solar panel plant in Malaysia

The firm, which has been touting environmental and energy technology as key growth areas, dropped a plan to convert a television panel plant in Western Japan into a solar power factory in October because of the rising yen and an industry price war.

The Malaysia plant will start production in the financial year starting next April and bolster the company´s solar output capacity by 50 percent to about 900 MW, the sources said.

The company plans both production of solar cells and assembly of solar panels at the plant, the sources said.

Panasonic declined to confirm the plan. "We will announce details of our solar panel growth strategy at the appropriate time," said company spokesman Akira Kadota.

Competition among Japan´s big solar panel makers, including Sharp Corp and Kyocera Corp, is intensifying as they look to compete with rivals overseas.

At the same time demand for solar panels is expected to slump in Europe due to cuts in government funding.

Sales of solar cells in Japan rose 28.7 percent in the July-September quarter from the same period a year earlier, slowing for the seventh straight quarter. Solar panel exports from Japan fell 11.3 percent in the same period.

Shares in Panasonic, which is forecasting its biggest loss in a decade for the year to March 2012, were down 1.7 percent at 680 yen by early afternoon trade on Friday, compared with a 1.3 percent fall in the Nikkei average.

($1 = 76.985 Japanese Yen)