Global LCD TV shipments are forecast to grow 1.3 percent year-on-year to 221 million units next year as falling TV panel prices give leeway for vendors to cut TV prices to stimulate replacement demand, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said.
This year, global TV shipments are to grow at an annual rate of 3.4 percent to 218 million units, driven mainly by the FIFA World Cup in the summer, the Taipei-based researcher said.
“This year, TV vendors are offering big discounts during Black Friday sales. They might retain the bargain prices through 2019, making it an effective catalyst for sales,” TrendForce analyst Jeff Yang (楊晴翔) said in a report last week.
China’s TCL Corp (TCL集團) slashed the price of 55-inch Internet TVs to US$349, while a 65-inch Internet TV only cost US$398, the report said.
TrendForce did not provide comparative figures.
TCL is the world’s third-largest TV vendor, with annual sales this year estimated at 17.5 million units, after Samsung Electronics Co’s 40.8 million units and LG Electronics Co’s 28.8 million units, the researcher’s data showed.
With more 10.5-generation LCD plants entering production this year, panel makers are seeing their manufacturing costs for 65-inch and 75-inch panels continue to improve, TrendForce said.
That would reduce panel prices and prices for TV sets, it said.
As BOE Technology Group Co (京東方), China’s biggest panel maker, is to ramp up a new 10.5-generation plant later this year, Chinese TV vendors would have a greater supply of 65-inch and 75-inch TVs, Yang said.
That would bode well for TV sales in China next year, he said.
China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co (華星光電) is to ramp up a new 11-generation plant next year, he added.
The world’s No. 4 TV vendor, Hisense Electric Co (海信) has lowered the price of 40-inch TVs to US$99 per unit and cut the prices of 55-inch and 65-inch Internet TVs to US$349 and US$398 respectively, the report said.
The world’s major TV brands, Samsung and LG, are adopting a different strategy. They are offering more advanced high-resolution 8K TVs, premium OLED TVs or QLED TVs to drive sales next year and to safeguard market share, Yang said.
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Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
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