INTERVIEW-Konica Minolta:high-end printer sales to jump

* Aims to double digital commercial printer sales in 3 years

* To launch high performance models, focus on emerging mkts

* Shares close down 0.2 pct in line with broader market

TOKYO, July 1 (Reuters) - Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings Inc (4902.T) said it aims to more than double sales of its digital commercial printers in 3 years to $2 billion, as it broadens its product lineup and establishes a presence in emerging markets.

Digital commercial printers, used to print documents such as product manuals and direct mail quickly and in large volume, are seen as a segment with strong growth potential at a time when the market for office-use printers and copiers is maturing.

"With regular office products reaching maturity and growth in the segment slowing, we need a new pillar of growth," Konica Minolta Executive Officer Atsushi Kodama told Reuters on Wednesday. "And this (digital commercial printing) is our new pillar."

Revenues at Konica Minolta's digital commercial printer operations came to 83 billion yen ($860 million) in the year that ended in March, or 9 percent of its total sales. The company plans to boost digital commercial printer sales by launching new machines with advanced printing capacity and focusing on growing demand in emerging economies such as China, India and South America, Kodama said.

Konica Minolta, which already holds a leading position in the low-end portion of the global colour digital commercial printer market in unit terms, plans to widen its lineup of higher-performance models through in-house development as well as procurement from Dutch copier and printer maker Oce NV (OCEN.AS).

Konica Minolta and Oce last year agreed on the joint development and mutual supply of their office equipment products.

Kodama said he aims to bring his company's digital commercial printer sales in emerging markets to 10 billion yen in 4 to 5 years, up from negligible levels at the moment. "There are overwhelming numbers of people in China and India, and Indonesia alone has some 200 million people," Kodama said.

"If a nation is populous and literacy rates are high, printing demand is bound to grow."

Konica Minolta's strength in the market for low-end digital commercial printers, which typically sell for about 10 million yen per unit, is expected to help it expand its market share in emerging markets, Kodama said.

A high-end model from Fuji Xerox Co, 75 percent owned by Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T) and 25 percent by Xerox Corp (XRX.N) of the United States, sells for 89 million yen.

Shares in Konica Minolta closed down 0.2 percent at 1,006 yen after Kodama's comments, in line with the Nikkei average .N225.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kentaro Hamada; Editing by Joseph Radford)