China-listed TV maker halts work at Russian factory over payment issues

(Reuters) – A manufacturer of Philips, Sharp and Sony televisions listed in China has halted work at its Russian factory near St Petersburg due to payment problems with foreign suppliers for spare parts, the plant told Reuters on Thursday.

Russia is grappling with payment issues due to Western sanctions over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that blocked it from dollar markets and the SWIFT global payments system, particularly for transactions with China.

“We have temporarily suspended the production of TVs until problems with payments to foreign suppliers of spare parts on an industrial scale are solved at the intergovernmental level,” Irina Limanskaya, the factory’s head of production told Reuters.

“We hope that all these problems will be solved by our government very soon, which will allow us to resume production,” she said, referring to the Russian government.

The Kommersant newspaper earlier reported that the factory, owned by TPV Technology, had halted production due to sanctions pressure from U.S. and European regulators, according to an unnamed source on Russia’s electronics market and Aleksei Pogudalov, commercial director at online household appliance retailer holodilnik.ru.

The factory did not respond to a request for comment on that point. A TPV Technology employee Reuters reached in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the company is listed, said they were not aware of the situation.

Philips said that TPV Technology had brand licence agreements with Philips for some consumer electronics, including TVs. A spokesperson said Philips has directed TPV Technology to scale down and cease production and delivery of Philips branded products before year-end 2024.

“Philips does not have any relationship with the factory involved,” Philips said. “Our brand licence partners must comply with all applicable export control and sanctions laws and we will address any breaches of this vigorously.”

Sony and Sharp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.