Kyocera plans to pull out of China’s handset market, due to competition from cheaper producers. The Japanese electronics maker recently finalized plans to buy Sanyo’s mobile phone business.

“We will strengthen our handset business through synergies with Sanyo in Japan and in North America,” said Kyocera President Makoto Kawamura at a news conference. “We decided there was no prospect for our business in China.”

Kyocera announced that it will hand over 45% of its 70% stake in its joint Chinese handset venture to partner company China Zhenhua Science & Technology, it also will give its remaining stake to a company in Hong Kong and forgive $7.9 million in debt.

The handset venture posted annual losses of about $6.6 million to $7.5 million since it began operations in late 2001.