Factory operations in Manaus will begin in July

The Japanese manufacturer of Canon cameras and printers, confirmed that will start in July factory operations in Manaus. The installation of the unit-the first company in Latin America, was announced last year. The project received investments of r $ 2.7 million and will employ around 60 people. Masaya Maeda, Chief Executive Officer of the Division of communication products operations of Canon's images, said the unit will initially manufacture compact digital cameras, models that do not allow the exchange of lenses by the consumer.
In the second phase, from the beginning of 2014, the unit will produce a semipro camera line (intermediate category between the professional and compact models). For this step, the team will be expanded to approximately 100 people. "After that, the strategy will depend on the demand and sales of professional cameras and semi-professionals in Brazil," said the Executive.
With local production, it is possible that there is a change in the prices of products, said Maeda. Currently, the Brazilian market is served by imported equipment, which is a heavy tax burden, said Jun Otsuka, President of Canon of Brazil. As the plant in Manaus meets the requirements of the basic productive process (PPB), the equipment will have tax benefits such as reduction of ICMS, PIS and Cofins (zero rate, down from 9.25%) and IPI zero (20%) charge against. Will also be exempt from import tax (20%) tax rate.
The installation of the factory in Brazil is part of the Japanese company's strategy to strengthen the activities in emerging countries. In addition, the Canon factory installed in Brazil a service centre, and began making direct sales in the country-until last year, were sold only through distributors. Without citing numbers, Maeda said that the goal is to make the Canon one of the first three in the Brazilian market of cameras in three years.
According to Otsuka, the Brazilian operation represents about 5% of worldwide sales of Canon digital cameras. (CB)