Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s top LCD panel maker, yesterday said its revenues contracted by 13.5 percent last month amid declining prices for LCD TV panels.
The company posted NT$40.29 billion (US$1.4 billion) in revenues, which was down from NT$46.61 billion in March after shipments of PC and TV panels slid 5.3 percent month-on-month to 11.03 million units, Chimei said in an e-mailed statement.
On an annual basis, last month’s revenues shrank about 19 percent from NT$49.93 billion a year ago.
Chimei joined rivals AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) by reporting lower monthly revenues because of a continuing decline in LCD TV panel prices, market researcher DisplaySearch said in a report on Saturday.
After a one-and-half year downward spiral, prices for LCD TV panels could rebound by as much as 1 percent in the first half of this month after they held steady toward the end of last month on the back of demand from China for its Labor Day holiday buying spree, helping supply and demand to reach parity, DisplaySearch said.
“After some strategic low prices offered in the past months, panel makers are quoting bigger price increases in May,” the report said, adding that panel makers were aiming to return to the black this quarter after losses last quarter, with some having been in the red for several quarters.
The price for a standard 32-inch TV panel rose 1 percent, or US$2, to US$149 a unit, the Texas-based researcher’s report showed.
AUO said revenues fell 7.7 percent month-on-month, or 19.4 percent year-on-year, to NT$33.17 billion last month.
Chunghwa Pictures said its revenues decreased 4.9 percent month-on-month, or 21.4 percent annually, to NT$6.06 billion last month.
However, HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) said last month’s revenues grew 10.4 percent to NT$3.9 billion from NT$3.53 billion in March, but fell 29.6 percent from the same period last year.
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