The total number of digital cameras sold on Chinese market hit a new record of 684,200 in the third quarter, up 117.1 percent year-on-year, official statistics said Tuesday.

In the first half of this year, 1.27 million digital cameras were sold in China, up 235.7 percent year-on-year, sources said.

Imports of digital cameras have risen markedly since China canceled quotas on imported cameras in early 2003.

Beijing, for example, imported 174,000 digital cameras last year, 480 percent more than the previous year. The value of imported cameras totaled 30.84 million US dollars, up 2,230 percent, local customs statistics show.

Experts had predicted imports of medium and low-price digital cameras would have a larger market share in 2004, posing a threat to domestic brands.

In 2004, among the one million digital cameras sold in China; the domestic brands accounted for less than 10,000, sources said.

However, the homemade digital cameras such as Legend and Aigo have ranked among the top ten in sales volume, according to statistics of the CCID Consulting Company Ltd,. The sales of digital cameras worldwide grows at a rate of 72 percent annually, according to official statistics. In 2004, China would sold 2.13 million digital cameras with a sales volume totaling 5.6 billion yuan (676 million US dollars).

Insiders predicted 6.5 million digital cameras would be sold in China by 2008, making China as the second largest market for digital cameras next to the United States.

Source: Xinhua