Q2 global LCD TV shipment growth barely passable

TAIWAN: According to the latest“global LCD TV brands’shipment report” and “quarterly downstream report” released by WitsView, the display research division of the global market intelligence provider TrendForce, the 2013 LCD TV shipment is revised down to 208.8 million units from earlier-projected 215.5 million units, seeing an only 1.1 percent growth YoY.

Overall, the Q1 global LCD TV shipment was 45.2 million units, dropping 26.7 percent QoQ, and the Q2 shipment is expected to surge around 5-6 percent QoQ and grow slightly 2.5 percent from the same period last year.

The H1’13 shipment performance is only can be described as barely satisfactory. Looking ahead to the traditional peak season in H2’13, the LCD TV shipment growths for Q3 and Q4 will be 10-12 percent and 15-17 percent, respectively.

WitsView research director Burrell Liu said that the reasons for the waning set demands are:

1. unclear global economic outlook, especially for the European market; 2. ending subsidy policy in China;
3. Japanese brands try to boost profits instead of market shares;
4. the demand for the large sizes grows, leading to drops in set shipments and surges in shipment area”

Chinese brands’ Q1 shipment continued to grow, TCL and Hisense landed as the worldwide No.3 and No.4, while No.7 Skyworth was challenging the No.6 place. With the support of China’s subsidy policy, the LED LCD TV penetration rate is expected to reach 91.4 percent for entire 2013, while that for 3D is 26.4 percent.

In view of sizes, the 39”and above will account for 52.7 percent of the market in 2013, growing 12 percent from 2012. The proportion for the 50”and above will rise 5.8 percent to 12.8 percent as large-sized TVs gain traction among clients.

Besides, Korean brands’ 2013 shipment growth is around 8.5 percent with a market share of 35 percent, which reached 33.3 percent in Q1. The annual growth for China's top six brands comes to 8.5 percent and their market share grows to 26.7 percent, attaining 28 percent in Q1.

Japanese brands’ market share continue to decline, with the annual growth expectedly trimming 9-10 percent, market share dipping to 19.5 percent for entire year, and Q1 market share attaining at 18.8 percent.

Korean brands’ use proportion of in-house panels attained 72.3 percent in Q1 and the procurement proportion from Taiwanese makers was 14.7 percent, that from Chinese makers was 9.2 percent, and that from Japanese makers was 3.8 percent.

Korean brands are expected to use Sharp’s panels from Q2. Japanese brands’ procurement proportion from Korean makers reached 55.8 percent, that from Taiwanese makers was 43.7 percent. Chinese brands’ procurement proportion from Taiwanese makers reached 47.6 percent, that from Korean makers was 31.5 percent, and that from domestic makers was 20 percent.

WitsView indicates that the path to global economic recovery is rough, damping the growth in demands, besides, the dropping of China’s energy-saving subsidy policy adds uncertainties to the peak season in the second half of the year.

Currently, the demand-and-supply situation of panels is loosening, and brands maintain a healthy level of inventory after the continuous inventory adjustment in Q1. Downstream clients hold advantages as their bargain power surges when they face panel makers with aggressive attitude on shipments and high utilizations.