LCD TV sales expected to surge 23 percent next year

Sales of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions in Taiwan are expected to have expanded 73 percent this year and to grow another 23 percent next year as constantly dropping prices spur demand, Taipei-based Market Intelligence Center (MIC, 資訊市場情報中心) said yesterday.

Sales of LCD TVs are expected to have spiked at 800,000 units this year, compared to 460,000 units for last year, with more than half of the sales in 32-inch screens, MIC said.

"Replacement demand will peak this year as the price for most TV vendors has fallen to the sweet spot. Even high-scale brand Sony has started selling affordable models for the masses," MIC analyst Chiang Han-i (姜漢儀) said.

Sony, Panasonic and Chimei, which is a TV and PC monitor brand of Chi Mei Corp (奇美實業), are the most popular brands for locally, MIC's survey showed.

The growth may start to slow next year as LCD TV sales are predicted to exceed 80 percent of the nation's total TV sales at around 1.2 million units, from 70 percent this year, according to MIC.

"The market is gradually maturing, leading most Asian countries excluding Japan," Chiang said. Sales of LCD TVs are expected to grow by 23 percent annually to 980,000 units, she said.

The Beijing Olympic Games and further drops in prices for TVs with screens bigger than 32 inches would encourage consumers to replace traditional cathode-ray-tube (CRT) TVs next year, Chiang said.

TVs with screens bigger than 37 inches are predicted to account for 36.3 percent of total sales next year.