Booming Jiangsu Province in East China exported 559,000 flat-panel TV sets, at a total value of US$230 million, last year, up 520 percent on the previous year.
　　
　　Local customs sources said most of the exports were liquid crystal display (LCD) TV sets, which made up 551,000 units, or 98.7 percent, of the total. Foreign sales of LCD TVs soared 590 percent.
　　
　　Meanwhile, exports of PDP TVs declined 26 percent to 7,504 sets.
　　
　　The top two buyers of Jiangsu‘s flat-panel TVs were the United States and the European Union, accounting for 81.4 percent of the province‘s total exports.
　　
　　Last year Jiangsu exported 328,000 flat-panel TVs to the United States and 127,000 to the EU, up 530 percent and 360 percent respectively, the customs sources said.
　　
　　Industry observers said that China‘s production of flat-panel TVs relied heavily on imported core parts and that a lack of core technology remained a major drag on further development of the business in the nation.
　　
　　(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2006)