"...Japanese electronics manufacturers including Sony and Matsushita Electric said on Monday they would boost output of digital video disc (DVD) players to meet growing world demand. Pioneer and Toshiba also expect to substantially lift DVD player production in the business year which started on April 1, as the four Japanese companies said they aim for around 90 percent of the global market between them.

Entertainment giant Sony plans to almost double its output to four million DVD players as it targets a share of some 30 percent of the more than 15 million units likely to be sold worldwide, a Sony spokeswoman said. Matsushita Electric said it plans to produce 300,000 players a month in fiscal 2000, up 50 percent from month last year. Japan's Pioneer which specialises in audio equipment, said its 2000/2001 production of DVD players was likely to be nearly double that of the previous year..." NULL