Hitachi Aims to Bolster Overseas Sales

Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. aims to generate 50 pct or more of its sales from overseas through bolstering its social infrastructure operations including power generation and railway, President Kazuo Furukawa said Tuesday.

The Japanese company will push power generation equipment, railway systems and construction machinery in Europe, Furukawa said at a press conference here.

Hitachi plans to increase its annual sales in Europe to one trillion yen by calendar 2010 from 870 billion yen in fiscal 2006 ended last March.

Furukawa said Toshiba Corp.’s decision to pull out of its High-Definition DVD operations will give a boost to industry by enhancing demand for next-generation DVDs. Hitachi backs the Blu-ray standard initiated by such firms as Sony Corp.