Verbatim expects at least threefold growth of Ukraine's LED lighting market in 2013

Ukraine's light-emitting diodes (LED) lighting market in 2013 is expected to grow by at least three times compared with 2012, primarily due to a substantial increase in the supply in Europe and a change in price points, according to Alexey Kirilyuk, Verbatim's Business Development Manager for CIS countries.

"The Ukrainian LED lighting market is expected to grow by 300-400% in 2013, as previously the market was underdeveloped and demand was seen only on the consumer lighting market, which is a very low-priced segment," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

"According to different estimates by distributor companies, the market of LED lamps in Ukraine in 2013 is forecast at 1 million units. In monetary terms, it will be approximately $10-15 million," he said. At the same time, he noted, the figures are tentative estimates.

Verbatim, a leading global company in data storage solutions, has been developing and selling LED-based lighting products since 2010.

Verbatim's Business Development Manager for LED in EUMEA Jeanine Chrobak-Kando says that the company expects the rapid development of the LED lighting market in Russia as well.

"Following the global trends, the LED lighting market in Russia and Ukraine has already shown sufficient growth, and we expect its development will be rapid in the near-term outlook," she said.

According to her, this forecast is based on a massive number of previously installed incandescent bulbs and the EU ban on their manufacture and imports.

She said that the LED penetration in the European lighting market in 2012 was 15%, which equates to EUR 2.3 billion. Recent McKinsey research predicts by 2020, 60% of all lamps and 62% of all fixtures in private households will be based on LED technology, a market worth EUR 8.4 billion. The total LED market in Europe is expected to grow to EUR 17 billion by 2020.

Giving projections for the future, Jeanine Chrobak-Kando noted that the LED lighting market is one of Verbatim's strategic directions of development. The company expects that sales revenue from LED products will exceed those from storage solutions and will become the single most important product category in Verbatim's brand portfolio by 2015.

Verbatim, founded in 1969, is a 100% subsidiary of Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd., which in turn is a 100% subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. The latter belongs to Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Japan's largest chemical holding company and a leading global manufacturer of components for LED production.

Until 2010 Verbatim's core business was the production of data storage solutions and computer accessories, ranging from floppy disks and magneto-optical storage media, CD and DVD formats, to USB drives, solid state drives and external hard drives. Today, Verbatim's LED professional range comprises of over 50 products, while a further 25 consumer products are designed for household use.