LG says weaker won to boost mobile phones

SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's No. 4 mobile phone maker, expects the weaker won currency to mainly benefit its handset business this year, its chief executive told Reuters on Friday.

The won's impact, however, will be limited for its television business because LG produces a large portion of its TVs in China, said Nam Yong when asked about the outlook for LG's main business units.

"The won will help handsets and TVs," Nam said. "But the impact will be smaller for TVs, as we produce many (of them) in China."

But LG's appliance business, which competes with Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in North America, is likely to see the won's impact offset by higher raw materials prices, he said.

"For appliances, raw materials prices in South Korea are high."

The South Korean won's value has fallen nearly 11 percent against the dollar so far this year, compared with a less than 1 percent loss for all of 2007. A softer won helps local exporters such as LG price their goods more competitively in foreign markets.

(Reporting by Rhee So-eui, editing by Marie-France Han and Ken Wills)