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TOKYO: Nikon Corporation expects to regain a 50% market share of the digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera market in Malaysia this year after its flood-hit plant in Thailand is fully restored by next month.

Its DSLR camera market share in Malaysia tapered off to 40% last year after the disastrous flood waters, which ruined its components and manufacturing plant in Rojana Industrial Park, Ayutthaya, last October.

"The plant in Thailand has been put back together and only started production last month although it is not yet running at full capacity," said Nikon general manager for communications Tetsuya Morimoto.

He said by end-March, the plant would be back to normal and resume supply of DSLR camera components to all Nikon camera manufacturing plants worldwide.

In an interview with Bernama at the Nikon headquarters here, Morimoto said the floods had only affected the production of DSLR cameras and not Nikon's compact digital cameras as these were produced outside Thailand.

"As such, Nikon's market share of compact digital cameras in Malaysia was not affected in 2011, retaining 20% of its share as projected," he added.

Moving forward, Nikon launched two new DSLR camera models this year, the D-4 on Jan 6 and the D800/D800E on Feb 7.

A Nikon Malaysia official in Kuala Lumpur said the company was targeting sales of 1,000 units of the D4 and 3,000 units of the D800/D800E in the country.

Nikon also announced that it would launch in phases a new product line-up of 12 compact digital cameras of the Coolpix series to cater for all categories of users worldwide. - Bernama