Supply Chain Research

Olympus has announced plans to sell its loss-making camera business to a private equity fund. That’s likely due to a shift in consumer preferences towards smartphones. Imports of cameras to the U.S. fell by 12.1% in dollar terms in the first quarter of 2020 compared to a year earlier. Declines came from shipments of television and still cameras, which were 26.1% and 3.0% lower respectively in the same period. Other cameras used in automotive and surveillance applications saw imports increase by 14.2% year over year. Imports by Olympus’s competitors shows negative trends. U.S. seaborne im...