Japan's Daikin to build air conditioners in Nigeria in renewed push (updated)

Daikin Industries

30/09/2022 07:24

(Adds company comment)
       TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Daikin Industries Ltd
 6367.T  will begin assembling air conditioners in Nigeria as it
renews a push into Africa that had been delayed by the COVID-19
pandemic, a regional head said on Thursday.
    "We are very soon going to have a factory in Nigeria,"
Kanwal Jeet Jawa, the head of Daikin's operations in India and
East Africa, told Reuters.
    Rather than building a plant, Daikin is using space in a
facility provided by a local distributor in the West African
nation, he said.
    In East African countries, including Tanzania and Kenya,
Daikin is aiming to become the leading seller of air
conditioners, chillers and other cooling equipment by 2025.
    The company is looking to replicate its success in India,
where it has beaten the likes of South Korea's LG Electronics
Inc  066570.KS  to take top market share amid rapid market
expansion driven by the country's economic growth, Jawa said.
    Daikin's production capacity in India is set to almost
double in 2023 with the opening of a new factory, allowing it to
ship equipment to Africa that is more affordable and better
suited to local conditions than air conditioners the Japanese
company makes elsewhere, Jawa said.
    "For East Africa, we will continue to supply finished
products produced in India," a Daikin spokesperson said.
 (Reporting by Tim Kelly and Mayu Sakoda; Editing by Kim Coghill
and Christopher Cushing)
 ((tim.kelly@thomsonreuters.com; +813-6441-1311;))