Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. will terminate their cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) production at Japanese factories by the end of September 2004, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

As Sony Corp. has already decided to withdraw from domestic picture tube production next year, the Matsushita and Toshiba move signals the end of the mass production of CRTs in Japan, the economic daily said.

Shifting its CRT production to overseas bases, Matsushita Electric, better known for its National and Panasonic brands, will instead focus its domestic output on high-definition plasma panels, it said.

No immediate comment on the report was available from Matsushita or Toshiba.

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