Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of flat-screen TVs by shipments, is pinning its hopes on African countries to fuel sales growth of flat-screen TVs, a company executive said Thursday.

“Africa has huge growth potential,” Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung’s visual display division, told reporters ahead of his departure to the continent. “Cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs have been mainstream products in Africa, but they are shifting to flat-screen TVs. There will be a lot of replacements this year.”

<YONHAP PHOTO-0383> 견해 밝히는 윤부근 사장 (서울=연합뉴스) 박지호 기자 = 아프리카 출장을 앞둔 윤부근 삼성전자 영상디스플레이사업부 사장이 10일 오전 김포공항 출국장에서 기자들에게 최근 LG전자와의 3DTV 기술논쟁에 대한 견해를 밝히고 있다. 2011.3.10 jihopark@yna.co.kr/2011-03-10 08:36:58/ <저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2011 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.>
Yoon Boo-keun
<YONHAP PHOTO-0383> 견해 밝히는 윤부근 사장 (서울=연합뉴스) 박지호 기자 = 아프리카 출장을 앞둔 윤부근 삼성전자 영상디스플레이사업부 사장이 10일 오전 김포공항 출국장에서 기자들에게 최근 LG전자와의 3DTV 기술논쟁에 대한 견해를 밝히고 있다. 2011.3.10 jihopark@yna.co.kr/2011-03-10 08:36:58/ <저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2011 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.> Yoon Boo-keun

Yoon Boo-keun

Yoon and Samsung’s vice chairman Choi Gee-sung are scheduled to visit five to six African countries during Choi’s first visit to the continent.

Samsung accounted for 39.8 percent of the TV market in Africa last year, according to market researcher GfK Group. The continent’s TV market is estimated to grow to $1.75 billion this year, according to DisplaySearch, and it is among the fastest growing emerging markets.

Along with LG Electronics Inc., the runner-up in the TV industry, the two Korean TV makers claimed more than 60 percent of the continent’s TV market in 2010.

On the high-end front, Samsung is trying to create momentum with Web-connected, so-called smart TVs and gain greater clout in developed countries’ 3-D TV markets.

(Yonhap News)