Camera & Imaging Products Association(CIPA) is an organization in Japan made up of members engaged in the production or distribution of silver halide cameras, digital cameras, and related devices, instruments and software. They recently announced the outlook on the shipment forecast by product-type concerning cameras and related goods for the term starting from 2006 to 2008.

“Among the shipment of digital cameras in the year 2005, the SLR digital cameras with interchangeable lens reached approx. 3.79 million pieces, up 53.0% from the previous year. The shipment in the year 2006 is forecasted to reach approx. 4.68 million pieces (up 23.4% from the previous year), an increase of 0.89 million pieces from last year, with an expectation that strong growth will continue albeit the downward trend in growth rate.

In the year 2005, the shipment of interchangeable lenses for SLR cameras reached approx. 7.04 million pieces, up 32.3% from the previous year, thanks to the strong growth of SLR digital cameras with interchangeable lens. Particularly, the lenses for exclusive use with digital cameras increased its ration in total shipment to circa 50%. The total shipment in the year 2006 is forecasted to be approx. 7.85 million pieces (up 11.4% from the previous year), an increase of approx. 0.8 million pieces, with an expectation that this trend will be accelerate from this year.”

Website : CIPA’s 2006-2008 Outlook on Shipment Forecast by Product-Type (PDF)