According to Howard Ozawa, president and CEO of Canon China, the Chinese company has become the core for Canon's global deployment and the group has launched a new strategy to complete its product coverage in the country in a short period.

The new strategy will focus on three aspects, including the planning of new products and the structural transformation; the promotion of its brand and channel; and the raising of its service level. Ozawa says that Canon has high expectations for the Chinese market. Despite the snowstorm and earthquake disasters, China is still Canon's fastest-growing regional market this year and Canon's revenue in China is expected to maintain an annual growth rate of 30% over the next few years.

In the first half of 2008, Canon sold 4.94 million digital cameras in China, a year-on-year increase of 31%. Owning seven manufacturing plants in China, the Japanese camera maker held the No.1 position with a 28.2% market share in the Chinese market, followed by Sony's 21.7% and Samsung's 14.7%, according to CCID Consulting, a Beijing-based research firm.

However, the Chinese market is still a weak market for Canon at present. In the year 2007, Canon achieved revenue of over USD30 billion, of which only USD1 billion was contributed by the Chinese market, accounting for less than 3%.