Japan’s Toshiba Corporation last week announced that it is reinforcing its TV business in the Middle East and Africa by establishing a joint venture (JV) to manufacture LCD TVs with El Araby Group, an Egyptian manufacturer and reseller of audio visual and home appliances.

According to statement by Toshiba, the new JV, provisionally called Toshiba El Araby Visual Products, will be located in Cairo, Egypt, and plans to start production of LCD TVs in March 2011. Its activities will range from LCD panel module assembly to the production of finished products.

Toshiba is proactively advancing an initiative to expand its LCD TV business worldwide. In the Middle East and Africa, the company anticipates strong growth in demand for LCD TVs and is promoting a number of measures in response, aiming for a 15% market share in the region in 2011.

The new manufacturing JV supports Toshiba’s strategy of establishing localised manufacture and supply of finished LCD TVs in the Middle East and Africa, and strengthens its ability to supply products that meet local market requirements and that offer improved cost competitiveness.

The plant is also expected to become one of the largest LCD TV manufacturing facilities in the region, and the first to handle LCD panel module assembly through the production of finished products.

The new plant will have an initial production capacity of 600,000 units a year and an initial workforce of about 300. As sales grow, the plant’s capacity will be increased, up to 2,000,000 units a year in 2013.