SALES of electrical appliances have risen steadily since Myanmar adopted a market oriented economy in 1989 and the products have become one of the country’s main imports, show figures released by the Ministry of Commerce.

Electrical appliances imported through border trade from China and Thailand have gained a foothold in the market and are competing against well-known brands from Japan and South Korea, said retailers and distributors.

Consumers can choose from among about 20 brands of imported appliances, of which up to 90 percent are from Asian countries. About a third are from China and the balance from other countries, mainly South Korea and Japan.

Televisions and MP3 or MP4 portable music players which are made in China and imported through the border checkpoint at Muse have a strong share of the market. But refrigerators and DVD and VCD players are mainly imported from Thailand through the Myawaddy border checkpoint, said U Htay Aung, manager of the Advance Electronic Retail Shop in downtown Yangon.

“The prices of electronic goods from China and Thailand are relatively low compared with other brands and are within the reach of ordinary people,” he said, adding that most consumers opted for Chinese products.

U Htay Aung said televisions and DVD players were the top sellers in the electronics market.

“Sales of DVD players are rising at an unprecedented rate compared to other electronic goods,” he said.

However, sales of televisions had declined and were averaging about 150 units a month, about half that of last year, U Htay Aung said.

Meanwhile, Samsung has launched a campaign to promote sales in Myanmar of its high-tech televisions, said U Myat Thin Aung, the chairman of A A Electronics Co Ltd, the South Korean company’s sole distributor in Myanmar.

The campaign follows a survey by Samsung which found that sales of televisions with liquid crystal display or plasma screens were increasing throughout the world.

However, there was consumer resistance in Myanmar because the televisions were about 10 times more expensive than models using tube-type screens, U Myat Thin Aung said.

Televisions were once considered a luxury in Myanmar but have come to be regarded as an essential for providing entertainment and information, said U Than Win Aung, the managing director of the Star TV factory in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone.

The growing demand for electrical appliances coincided with the rise in living standards, said U Than Win Aung.

Consumers with disposable incomes opted to buy televisions for entertainment, information and education, he said.

It is estimated that nearly all households in Yangon and about 60 per cent of those in rural areas have a television.

Another electrical product near the top of consumers’ lists is air conditioners.