A Fujitsu personal organiser: the firm has been hit by falling prices

Fujitsu, the Japanese electronics firm, reported a loss of 9.57bn yen ($92m;�49m) for the third quarter on falling flat-panel and chip income.

It was a steep loss compared with the 7.65bn yen profit of a year ago, when results were boosted by the sale of a stake in Fanuc, a robot maker.

Sales for the quarter fell 2.3% to 1.044 trillion yen.

The company was hurt by a difficult

digital audio-visual market, according to President Hiroaki Kurokawa.

Falling prices

He said: "The severity of the downturn in the digital audio visual market seriously impacted our chip and flat-panel display businesses and hurt our overall results."

Many of the company's Japanese rivals have also experienced poor results amid declining prices.

However, another rival Canon - the camera to copier company - seems to have managed to buck the trend by cutting costs and focusing on higher-margin products.

Out of balance

Fujitsu chief financial officer Masamichi Ogura told reporters: "We expect a recovery in chip orders from mid-February.

"But when it comes to display panels, the supply-demand balance has completely broken down.

"Things will continue to be tough in the next business year."

The company has reduced its sales forecast for the year ending March 31 to 4.8 trillion yen, from 4.9 trillion yen.

It has also cuts its profit forecast for the year - to 55 billion yen.