Konica Minolta, Kodak in global printer sales tie

TOKYO Feb 24 (Reuters) - Japanese printer maker Konica Minolta (4902.T) and Eastman Kodak EK.N have agreed on a global cross-distribution deal in digital printers for professional use, the Japanese company said on Thursday.

The two companies are battling Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) and Xerox (XRX.N) for share in the market for high-volume digital printers, which is expected to grow as firms switch to the more flexible technology from analogue offset printers.

Konica Minolta's strength lies in light production printers, while the U.S. company's product range is focused on faster mid-sized and heavy printers.

On Wednesday, rival Ricoh Co Ltd (7752.T) agreed to a production printer distribution deal with Heidelberg HDGE.DE of Germany.

Konica Minolta's former European partner, Oce of the Netherlands, was bought out by Japan's Canon Inc (7751.T) last year. [ID:nTOE62J00D]

"We see tie-ups with other companies as a must," Jun Haraguchi, head of Konica Minolta's global business technology sales, said in an interview. "We cannot do everything ourselves."

Additional partners will probably be needed in the future to help the company develop its sales in emerging markets, he added.

Konica Minolta aims to more than double its sales of production printers from the current 90 billion yen ($1.10 billion) by 2013. ($1=81.89 Yen) (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Edmund Klamann)