SAMSUNG [MOBILE PHONE PLANT] CHINA

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS Co Ltd is considering suspending operations at one of its mobile phone manufacturing plants in China due to slumping sales and rising labor costs, the Electronic Times reported on Monday.

Samsing might stop producing  mobile phones this year at Tianjin

Samsung Telecom Technology, located in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin,the South Korean newspaper said, describing the move under consideration as a potential withdrawal.

The world's biggest smartphone maker said on Monday that nothing had been decided on the fate of its Tianjin operation.

''The overall smartphone market is having difficulties due to slowing growth. Samsung Electronics' Tianjin telecom enterprise aims to focus on activities that increase competitiveness and efficiency, '' it said in a statement to Reuters.

Just five years ago, Samsung had  20 percent of the Chinese market only to see that fall to less than 1  percent  this year, outgunned by Huawei, Xiaomi and other Chinese brands, particularly on pricing.

The South Korea tech giant is also under pressure to  jump-start faltering smart-phone sales after posting    its slowest quarterly profit growth in more than a year, as rivals nip at its heels with cheaper, feature-packed models.

In recent years, Samsung    has focused    its major mobile phone investments on production facilities in Vietnam and India.

It opened the world's biggest  smartphone factory outside  New Delhi last month, which is slated to become an export hub.

According to the  Electronics Times, its Tianjin plant in China produces  36  million phones a year and its    Huizhou   plant makes  72 million units a year, while the two factories in Vietnam combined make 240 million units a year. [Agencies]