Japan's Canon Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it will delay the construction of a $1 billion toner cartridge components plant in Japan by six months as the global downturn hits sales and usage of office equipment.

Canon, which competes with Xerox Corp (XRX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Ricoh Co Ltd (7752.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Konica Minolta Holdings Inc (4902.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in copiers and printers, now plans to start building the plant in western Japan in June 2009 with production due from March 2010.

A Canon spokesman said, however, its plan to spend 60 billion yen ($621 million) or more to build a toner cartridge plant in the U.S. state of Virginia and start output there in December 2009 remains on track.

Consumable items such as toners and related services are an important source of profit for office equipment makers as they generally fetch high margins and provide a constant revenue stream.

Canon, the world's largest digital camera maker ahead of Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), last month cut its annual outlook, predicting its first profit decline in nine years as the economic slowdown drives up the yen and hurts copier and camera sales.

Shares in Canon were down 2.9 percent at 2,850 yen in afternoon trade, underperforming the Nikkei average .N225, which was down 2.1 percent.