Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp, will concentrate all production of low-end microwave ovens to Thailand, a news report said Saturday.

The company would cease the manufacture of low-priced microwave ovens at its factories in Japan, Britain and the United States and use these facilities instead to make higher-priced units that match regional demand, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

Sharp would make Thailand its global export base for all microwave ovens priced below 30,000 yen (290 dollars), leveraging the low production costs there to better compete with makers from China and South Korea, the newspaper said.

Sharp's output of microwave ovens in Thailand would rise 70 percent to some five million units a year, the Nihon Keizai said. This would be accomplished using existing facilities with no additional investment in plant and equipment.