DENSO Corp, the world's largest listed auto-parts maker, will trim the value of capital goods orders by 20 percent next fiscal year as a global recession damps demand from car makers and lowers sales.

The company will reduce the value of orders for items including machinery to about 200 billion yen (US$2.2 billion) in the year ending March 2010, from 250 billion yen in the current fiscal year, spokesman Goro Kanemasu said yesterday in a phone interview with Bloomberg News, confirming comments made by President Nobuaki Katoh in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun yesterday.

Denso, based in central Japan, is cutting its expansion plans as plunging car sales reduce demand for its components. The maker of air conditioners and diesel engine systems, which is 23 percent owned by Toyota Motor Corp, slashed its net income forecast 90 percent on Wednesday.

Toyota, Japan's biggest car maker, on Monday predicted its first operating loss in 71 years. Toyota accounts for about half of the parts maker's revenue. Denso's capital spending will be 310 billion yen this fiscal year, said Kanemasu.

Research and development spending will also fall as sales are set to dip. The firm typically invests about 8 percent of sales on R&D, and will maintain that level, he said.