Pegasus Sewing Machine Mfg. Co., Ltd. will strengthen sales of sewing machines in the Middle East and Africa through its overseas sales offices. In the Asian market, which has been leading sales in terms of quantity, demand for general-purpose machines is anticipated to reach a peak in the near future, so the company is positioning the Middle East and Africa as new growth markets.
Pegasus Sewing Machine will first move to cater to growing demand in Jordan, Ethiopia and Kenya. In order to do so, Pegasus Europa GmbH in Germany, which has a base in Turkey, will strengthen its sales, and the sales company in China will also increase its supply of sewing machines to Chinese apparel manufacturers that are expanding their operations to the Middle East and Africa.
At an international conference held in Nairobi, Kenya in late August, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed to lead African investments by Japanese companies, and this has increased hopes for further growth in sewing machine demand among Japanese sewing machine manufacturers. In the future, competition among Japanese sewing machine manufacturers to obtain a larger share of the African market is expected to intensify to full scale.
According to the company, sales during the first half of the current fiscal year (April-September 2016) are expected to slightly increase, but operating profits are likely to be lower than original plans due to the strong yen. Sales of industrial sewing machines are currently strong in China, Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia.