Gloomy economy takes toll on LCD panel market, says WitsView

Total shipments of large-size LCD panels in June 2011 reached 59.53 million units with on-month regression of 2.8% and on-year growth of 8%, according to WitsView.

However, as indicated by the WitsView, if shipments of tablet PC panels are excluded and only shipments of TV, monitor, notebook and netbook panels are considered, the on-year decrease will be -1.2% and -3.3% in May and June respectively.

According to WitsView, on-year growths were seen in May and June from 2006-2010. Therefore, the on-year decreases in May and June of 2011 are an indication of the lack of consumer confidence in Europe and US markets in the first half of 2011 due to the debt crisis in Europe and high unemployment rate and pending debt ceiling issue in the US, while the worsening global inflation issue has also led to weak buying power in the end market. In the current gloomy atmosphere, downstream customers have been much more conservative than usual.

Sales performance of all TV brands have been mediocre amid slow economic recovery in Europe and the US. TV panel shipments in June were around 16.76 million units, flat compared to the volume in May. The latest prediction of global LCD TV demand by WitsView has been lowered to 203-205 million units from 211 million units. The IT market has also been weak with monitor panel shipments at 16.13 million units in June, down 7.2% on month. Shipments of notebook panels came to 15.71 million units with a on-month decrease of 4.3%.

The only application with shipment growth is the tablet segment, with shipments of 7.23 million units and on-month growth of 8%. The shipment of netbook panels totaled 3.68 million units with a 8.9% decrease on month.