TrendForce: LCD Monitor Shipments Declined by 4.8% in 2012, while Some Panel Prices Saw Continuous Growth

According to the Worldwide LCD Monitor Shipment Report by WitsView, a research division of TrendForce, global top 10 LCD monitor brands’ shipments amounted to 10.67 million units with MoM growth of 4.9% and YoY regression of 0.4% in May-12, while SIs’ (System Integrator) shipments reached 10.99 million units, decreasing by 1.2% MoM and 10.7% YoY respectively.

Despite the fact that the demand for LCD monitor remained flat in May-12, brand vendors’ overall shipments posted an uptrend mostly as downstream vendors had shrunk their procurement momentum and focused on inventory digestion in Apr-12, causing the demand to gradually pick up in May-12 with a lower base period in Apr-12. In addition to the stagnant end-market demand, May is the beginning of a traditional offseason, of when Samsung was the only SI who replenished their retailers’ inventory ahead in May-12 while the remaining brand vendors stayed conservative toward inventory preparation. As a result, SI shipments declined slightly MoM. Looking ahead to LCD monitor shipments in June-12, although most of the vendors’ shipments are expected to grow along with the upcoming traditional peak season, the total LCD monitor SI and brands’ shipments in Jun-12 are estimated to be on par with shipments in May-12 as end-market demand remains lukewarm while some of the vendors had shipped products to their channels in advance.

Anita Wang, TrendForce’ analyst, notes that the end market’s demand for monitor has been continuously revised down from 163.5 million units as forecasted in early 2012 to 158.6 million units with YoY regression of 4.8%. In spite of a mild price increase in LCD monitor owning to shrinking supply, brand vendors remain their conservative attitude towards the demand in 3Q12. Coupled with strict inventory control due to a half-year financial report closing in late Jun-12, few brand vendors who had piled up aggressively turned to be active in digesting their additional panel inventories to state their inventory preparations’ coming to an end. As brand vendors’ shipments in 1H12 failed to meet the market expectations, the top 10 LCD monitor brands shipments dropped by 7% YoY. Even though the shipments in 2H12 are projected to increase along with the peak season for traditional PC sales, the demand momentum may be unlikely to offset the shipment regression in 1H12.
 

Figure-1: May-12 ~ Aug-12 Top 10 Brands and SIs’ Shipment Forecast

Source: WitsView，Jul.-12, unit: 10k