Sanyo will raise production capacity at its plant in Guangdong Province in southern China from one million units a year to 3.6 million units, the daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

The company believes China's importance as a production base will remain unchanged in the long term although the nation has been hit by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, the economic daily said.

There was no immediate comment from Sanyo.

The Nihon Keizai also reported Sanyo would establish a parts-procuring centre in southern China's Shenzhen this summer, aiming to boost the local procurement ratio in value from the current 10 percent to 70 percent in four to five years.

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