Local LCD panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) yesterday said revenues declined 28.5 percent last month from a year ago, joining local peers in reporting lower revenues as they grappled with a downward spiral in prices amid sluggish demand.
Revenues fell to NT$5.53 billion (US$188 million) last month from NT$6.67 billion in the same period last year, the Taoyuan-based company said in a statement.
On a monthly basis, revenues contracted 13.8 percent from January’s NT$5.53 billion, the statement said.
Last month’s results marked its weakest monthly figure in 18 months since June 2009.
Shipments of LCD panels used in televisions and computers dropped 10 percent to 1.6 million units last month, compared with 1.78 million units in January, Chunghwa Picture said.
Local rivals AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) on Tuesday also reported revenues falls last month.
AU Optronics, the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, said sales last month dropped 10.2 percent to NT$27.1 billion from NT$NT$30.19 billion in January. On an annual basis, revenues shrank 17.1 percent from NT$32.67 billion in February last year.
Last month’s numbers were its lowest since April 2009, when it made NT$24.4 billion in revenues, company data showed.
Shipments of LCD TV and computer panels fell 13 percent to 8.23 million units last month from 9.46 million units in the prior month, the company said in a statement.
Smaller panel maker HannStar Display Corp also reported that revenues dropped 17.9 percent month-on-month and 25.5 percent year-on-year to NT$3.16 billion last month.
Shipments of TV and PC monitors plunged 34 percent to 342,000 units from 517,000 units the previous month, it said.
However, price falls might ease for some product lines, with DisplaySearch’s latest industry report forecasting that LCD monitor panel prices would stop dropping in the first two weeks of this month from two weeks earlier.
“Some monitor brands are beginning to refill front-end hub inventory” because of healthier inventory levels at the end of last month, the Austin, Texas-based researcher said in the report released on Tuesday.
“Due to a lower panel profit margin for monitors, panel makers are eager to raise prices for all sizes of monitor panels and will try to make it happen in March,” it said.
However, the prices of panels used in LCD TVs would be unchanged, or drop by 1 percent in the first two weeks of this month from two weeks ago, while notebook panel prices would be flat, the report said.
DisplaySearch said panel makers were in a tussle for a price hike for TV and notebook panels as supply was likely to become tight early next quarter because of a labor shortage in China and a short supply of key components.
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