Back-to-school season fails to boost China’s PC export market

EL SEGUNDO, USA: The back-to-school season has come and gone, and for PC OEMs in China’s export market, it was as if the playground bully took their lunch money, according to the market research firm iSuppli Corp.

China’s desktop PC exports in July fell 12.2 percent, with 2.6 million units shipped, down from 3.0 million in June and virtually unchanged from May. Not surprisingly, revenue from desktop PC exports in July also declined to $1.35 billion, down from $1.49 billion in June.

“China’s OEMs were overoptimistic regarding back-to-school PC demand,” said Kevin Wang, director of China Research at iSuppli. “With worries continuing about the global economic situation and impacting consumers’ buying habits, consumers are using older PCs and forgoing any upgrades in the near term.”

iSuppli believes China’s desktop PC export shipments continued to decline in August.

Notebooks fall too
Notebook exports also retreated, dipping slightly to 16.3 million units in July in a 3 percent month-on-month decrease.

In June, with inventory piling up, notebook OEMs began an inventory correction that then impacted notebook Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) exporters across the board in China Following such a development, No. 1 exporter Quanta and No. 2 exporter Compal both suffered major decreases in July.

For these companies as well as other exporters of notebooks in China, the end of the oversupply remains nowhere in sight. As a result, notebook exports have continued to decline through September.

Source: iSuppli, USA.