TrendForce: July Large-sized Panel Shipment Came to 63.2 M units, declining 4.2% MoM

According to the latest shipment survey by WitsView, the display research division of the global market intelligence providerTrendForce, the large-sized panel shipment was 63.2 million units in July, dropping 4.2%. 

As July was the slow season for TV makers’ restocking, brands continued inventory adjustments, and the July LCD TV panel shipment declined 2.8% MoM to a volume of 18.25 million units. IT panels showed weaker-than-projected performance, indicating the PC industry’s inventory issue and the harsh challenges brought by tablets and smart phones in the 2nd half of the year. The monitor panel shipment trimmed 4.4% MoM, worse than the projected 2% drop, to 13.40 million units. The 10.1”-and-above NB panel declined 17.7% MoM, deeper than the 11% drop forecast, to 14.60 million units due to the heightened basis period in June and some brands’ quarter-end financial settlement. 

For the tablet panel shipment, though Apple, Google’s Nexus 7, and Samsung had strong panel demand, the demand for white-box tablets weakened as the segment was dragged down by large phoneblets of 5.3”, 5.7”, and 6.1”, and low-priced tablets by acer and ASUS eroded the market. The overall tablet panel shipment surged 10% MoM to 16.94 million units.

Based on WitsView’s data, the TV panel shipment grew 5% QoQ in Q2’13, higher than the preliminary estimate 2%. WitsView research manager Jeffy Chen indicates the stronger-than-projected shipment was resulted from the ideal TV panel profitability in Q2 that enforced panel makers’ ability to bear price drops. Under the pressure of maintaining stable utilization, cutting prices to secure shipments led to large price decreases of all panel sizes in Q2 and further postponed the inventory digestion in the industry.   

After the subsidy policy ended in China, the demand and supply in the 2nd half of the year return to market fundamentals. The shipment demand for China’s Oct. 1st holidays will emerge in August, but TV brands’ promotional cores will be UHD 4K2K TVs and cheaper large TVs. As the previous inventory is to be digested and model sizes grow, the TV panel shipments by unit in Q3 and Q4 are projected to drop YoY and QoQ, while the 2013 LCD TV panel shipment is revised down to 225-226 million units, dipping around 2% from last year.  

Chen says despite of Chinese brands’ Oct 1st promotional demand surfacing in August, other brands remain cautious toward the H2’13 market. The TV panel shipment in August is projected to stay flat or surge 1% MoM, monitor panel shipment will grow 2-3% from the previous month, and NB panel shipment will climb 6-7%. The demand for Apple’s 9.7”heats up, while the demand for 7” and 8” panels is supported by the hot-selling new Nexus 7 and Samsung’s 8” of Galaxy lineup, driving up the overall tablet panel shipment by 20-25% from July. 

Chart 1: TFT-LCD Panel Shipment in Jul-13 (K units)  

 
Source: WitsView