TrendForce: Panel Makers Plan on Price Increase, Monitor Shipments continued to Grow in Mar-12

According to the Worldwide LCD Monitor Shipments Report from WitsView, the research division of TrendForce, both global top 10 LCD monitor brands and SIs’ shipments enjoyed a continuous growth in Mar-12. Shipments of brand vendors amounted to 11.64 million units with MoM increase of 5.1%, while SI shipments reached 12.27 million units with a surging MoM of 8.1%.

Brand vendors’ overall shipments continued to increase as Samsung, the leading brand vendor, launched new models mostly in Mar-12 while some retailers in the U.S. restocked their inventory. A continuous uptrend in SI shipments was due to three factors: 1) some of the February’s orders being postponed to March, 2) there were relatively more working days in Mar-12, 3) some brand vendors’ were launching new model. However, both brand vendors and SIs’ shipments in Mar-12 surged while their shipments fell by 12.4% and 14.4% YoY respectively, unveiling a still-fragile terminal demand that cause downstream vendors to be cautious about inventory preparation.

Anita Wang, TrendForce’s analyst, indicated that only few brand vendors have stocked up their inventory aggressively in preparation for panel makers’ plan for a price increase, while some brand vendors have replenished their inventory based on sizes needed. For instance, Samsung’s attitude towards inventory stocking is likely to turn aggressive for its largest panel supplier is having adjustment in product capacity distribution. Due to limited price uptrend in LCD monitor panel and the lack of strong end market demand, the remaining majority of downstream LCD monitor brands, after evaluating the capital and room it might take for stocking up, have adopted wait-and-see attitude instead of aggressive stock preparations, leading brand vendors’ shipments between Apr-12 and Jun-12, expected to peak at Jun-12, which is closer to a high season.

Figure 1: Mar.-12~Jun.-12 Top 10 brand and SI monitor shipment forecast

Source: WitsView，Apr.-12, unit:10k