According to WitsView, a division of TrendForce, although the US-China trade dispute reached a ceasefire after the Trump-Xi meeting at G20, TV brands have been engaging in preemptive stocking in 2Q due to fears of a 25% tariff to be placed into effect in 3Q as well as Samsung Display's (SDC) original decision to shut down their Gen 8.5 L8-1-1 plant. This caused TV panel prices to plunge in June to an unforeseeable extent.
According to Witsview, a division of TrendForce, despite the relaxation of the US-China trade dispute in the wake of G20, demand for various end products in 2H will remain in a conservative mood until the situation becomes clear through subsequent negotiations, leading to a less-than-expected restocking demand for panels. Suppliers are already finding trouble profiting in 2Q due to continuously sliding panel prices. If the US-China negotiations hit a wall again, the continued trade conflict may drag down sales in the peak seasons of 2H. This may drastically raise the chances of panel prices crashing below cash costs and pressure businesses for the second half-year, forcing them to decide whether to reduce production.
As worries spring up in the market about whether the 25% tariff arising from the US-China trade war would impact TV markets, US President Trump has further announced on May 30 that he plans to levy a 5% tariff on Mexico's imports to the US on June 10 due to illegal immigrant issues. The tax will keep escalating and hit 25% in October. WitsView , a division of TrendForce , suggests that the tariff problems to follow may severely impact US market confidence and drag down global TV shipments for 2019.
WitsView , a division of TrendForce , has it in its latest report that shipments of TV brands worldwide came to 49.87 million units for 1Q19, a QoQ slide of 24.6% and a YoY bump of 0.5%. One may discover from the brand shipment rankings that first and second place are still the domain of Korean brands, while China brands fill up third to sixth, evidently proving themselves a force to be reckoned with in their ambitions to aggressively raise market share by leveraging their cost advantage.
According to the latest research by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, gaming monitor (which WitsView defines as displays with a frame rate of 100Hz or above) shipments reached 5.4 million units in 2018, a 112% growth from 2017. Due to the continually expanding presence of LCD monitor brands in the gaming market and the joining of latecomer brands, gaming monitor shipments are expected to grow by leaps and bounds in 2019, looking upwards of 7.9 million units, a YoY growth of 46 %.