Dry-cell batteries have always been a relatively low-profile affair, with most consumers paying little attention to which brand they use for their flashlights or remote control devices.
But domestic makers have begun marketing new battery products like the gadgets they power to fend off an influx of cheap imports from China and South Korea.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in April released Oxyride, which the company calls a next-generation dry-cell battery, following the alkaline battery introduced four decades ago.