Monitor panel shipments drop by 13% in July, reaches a new low over the past year, according to WitsView

Taipei, August 18, 2008---According to WitsView’s survey, worldwide large-size panel shipments in July reached 32.7 million units, a 7.7% MoM decrease and a mere 1.3% growth on year. Beginning from June, due to rising inventory pressures, some brand and SI makers reduced the amount of panel orders. At the same time, panel prices also began to trend downwards. Meanwhile, according to the panel makers’ July’s 2Q08 investor conferences, where they announced their quarterly performance and 3Q08 outlook, the plummeting panel prices and over high inventory levels prompted them to scale back production by 10~15% during the current traditionalji45/ strong third quarter.

As time is needed to clear away the excess inventory, and with brand and SI makers still wary that further panel price declines may occur, large-sized panel shipments remained weak in July. With some panel makers switching some of the production to small and medium-sized panels, there was instead a notable shipment increase in this segment. Among the 3 main applications, monitor shipments saw the biggest decline, falling by 12.9% MoM to 13.8 million units, reaching one of the lowest points during this past year. TV and NB panels were respectively down by 1.7% and 4.5% to 7.7 million and 11.2 million units.

TFT-LCD Panel Shipment (K units)

The aggregated large size panel area shipments in July reached 5.3 million square meters, down 4.6% MoM and up 10.6% YoY. Due to shipment increases for the above 40”, the TV segment still grew by 1.4% MoM to 2.95 million square meters. Monitors and NBs were down respectively by 14% and 4.8% to 1.6 million and 766K square meters.

TFT-LCD Panel Area Shipment (K square meter)

Although the market has entered the traditional strong third quarter, the large-sized panel shipments have already dropped consecutively for 2 months. In response, panel makers have cut back production. With the inventory still being cleared and panel makers already reducing the utilization rates, coupled by preparations for China’s National Day holidays and worldwide year-end sales promotions, it should substantially help stimulate forthcoming panel shipments. Still, there remains a big question mark as to whether the various macroeconomic factors will weigh on the consumer spending.

About WitsView

Founded in the year 2004, WitsView, a subsidiary brand of DRAMeXchange, is
composed of a team of TFT-LCD industry experts. The research field covers the development and market trend of upstream components, mid stream panels and downstream system integrators and retailers.
For more about WitsView, please visit www.witsview.com