Thirty-five million color TV sets were sold for a total of 93.5 billion yuan (12 billion U.S. dollars) in China last year, the China Securities Journal reported Monday.

Cheap traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) sets still account for more than fifty percent of the market in yuan terms with sales of 52 billion yuan in 2006, but sleek, fashionable flat-screen models continue to make inroads despite the stiffer price tag.

Sales of flat screen sets shot up by 151 percent year-on-year to 4.8 million units last year, worth 41 billion yuan, and are expected to hit 8.1 million units in 2007 and 12 million units in 2008.

Of the flat-screen total, 3.9 million were liquid crystal display (LCD) sets worth 34 billion yuan, and the other 900,000 were plasma screen sets which sold for 7 billion yuan.

The report said price cuts had spurred sales of flat-screen TVs, with 32-42 inch LCD sets down 32 percent on average and 35-45 inch plasma screen sets down a hefty 45 percent last year.

Sales of LCD sets and plasma screen sets are expected to hit seven million units and 1.1 million units in 2007.

Source: Xinhua