WitsView: Large size panel shipment continued its sequential growth and hit another record high in 1Q10
Extending the shipment growth momentum from 4Q09, global large-sized TFT-LCD panel shipments recorded another all time high at 148 million units in 1Q10 and continued its sequential growth from 2008. Although QoQ growth only reached 0.5%, YoY growth surged by an impressive 71.9%. Witsview says, under the expectation of a supply shortage, downstream customers’ demand remained strong in 1Q10. Moreover, in the period before and after the Chinese New Year(CNY) holiday, panel shipments were impacted by labor and material shortage in the overall supply chain, which led to the tight supply of panels. In addition, the average panel prices reached a high point in March, therefore, panel makers have been aggressive their shipment strategy in order to boost their financial performance before the end of the quarter. Hence, it also spurred the continued growth in 1Q10 shipments.
Among three main applications: first, netbook and notebook panel shipments fell by 11.2% and 2.3% respectively, due to the impact from the down cycle. Second, supply of monitor panels was tight because in capacity allocation, priority was given to TV panels. Therefore, monitor panel prices have been rising sequentially till March, which led to the 6.5% shipment growth; monitor panel shipments are the main product that drives the shipment growth in 1Q10. Third, thanks to demand from restocking for CNY holiday, LCD TV panel shipments were fairly maintained compared to that of 4Q09; down by a moderate 0.4%.
Worldwide large size TFT-LCD panel shipment in 1Q10
Looking into 2Q10, WitsView considers the shipment performed too optimistic to have some inventory problems in downstream market in first quarter. Even though brand vendors don’t reduce their orders now, panel price already has the slightly drop signal in second half of April. It is also means the shipment continuously growth momentum becomes slower. Therefore, depending on brand vendor’s place order attitude in 2Q10, WitsView regards the large size panel shipment will slightly grow 2% conservatively.
