Weaker-than-expected sales of flat-panel TVs in China during the Lunar New Year holiday will put pressure on panel prices in the months ahead, which bodes ill for the liquid-crystal-display (LCD) sector, US market researcher DisplaySearch said on its Web site yesterday.
Preliminary estimates by DisplaySearch matched recent speculation about slower TV demand in China, the world’s No. 3 market for slim-screen TVs after the US and Europe.
The worries sent share prices of local LCD stocks in decline by between 1.96 percent and 4.8 percent on Thursday, when the news began circulating.
Holiday sales are seen as a key indicator of panel pricing trends.
Taiwanese LCD panel makers such as Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) are the biggest panel suppliers of Chinese TV manufacturers.
Chinese government data showed that flat-panel TV sales during the Lunar New Year holiday were under 3.5 million units, 13.5 percent lower than the 4 million units estimated by most industry analysts, the Austin, Texas-based researcher said yesterday.
Flat-panel TV sales during the holiday could account for between 10 percent and 15 percent of the 33 million TV sales in China this year, or about 25 percent of the 25 million TV sets sold last year, DisplaySearch said in a forecast in November.
Some Chinese TV makers expected sales would be below 3 million units, DisplaySearch analyst Bing Chang (張兵) said on the company’s Web site.
“Set makers and retailers built up inventory in anticipation of strong holiday sales, and the slower sell-through seems to have resulted in two or weeks’ [worth] of additional inventory for most local TV makers,” Chang said.
“This could further affect panel supply and demand in the next two months or so,” Chang said.
Chang said an inventory increase in the Chinese market could reverse the short supply of flat panels and reverse a price uptrend as early as this month.
Chinese TV makers only promoted high-end TVs such as LED-backlit LCD TVs, Internet TVs and karaoke TVs, which did not contribute substantially to sales volume, Chang said.
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