Toshiba Leaves Russian Consumer Market, Blames Tough Competition From LG, Samsung

Japanese electrical company Toshiba is going to withdraw selling kitchen appliances and television sets in the Russian market.

The company is going to close Toshiba CIS, its Russia division for TV sets and kitchen appliances. According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, Toshiba is closing down its Russian division due to high competition and the instability of the Russian currency.

The Japanese company has reportedly stopped sales of television sets and kitchen appliances like kettle-thermos and refrigerators. According to Toshiba Rus Director Hiroaki Tezuka, the company has completely abandoned the Russian consumer market. He said the company had sold all the goods as early as December 2014 when there was a big rush of sales.

Tezuka believes the toughest competitors for Toshiba in Russia are LG and Samsung. According to him, it has been difficult for Toshiba, with around 10 percent of the Russian television market, to compete with Korean companies which dominate around 70 percent of the Russian market.

The liquidation process reportedly started in June. Investing in new businesses in Russia has become more difficult, Tezuka said.

"Corporate management is reading negative news from Russia, so to convince them to invest is very difficult," he said.

Tezuka added that Toshiba would only leave its b2b-unit Toshiba Rus in Russia. Toshiba Rus works with Power Machines, Sberbank and the Russian Mail.

Kunihiro Nomura, the head of the Japan External Trade Organization, said Toshiba had not informed JETRO about leaving the consumer market in Russia. He has, however, said it depended upon the personal discretion of any individual company as the Russian economy is in crisis.