In 2015, Samsung and LG, the two major Korean brands, may surpass 40% global market share, squeezing the market shares of Chinese and Japanese TV brands, according to a recent announcement from WitsView, a research division of TrendForce. Even though Korean brands are leading ahead of the pack in the global LCD TV market, a newly released “2014 China TV Brand Power Research Report” from AVANTI, a Chinese consumer research division of TrendForce, indicates that within the China market, Changhong, TCL and Hisense still possess an absolute geographical advantage in terms of brand image and visibility.
Taiwanese solar cell manufacturer, Motech, announced on December 26, 2014 that it will merge with Topcell Solar International Co. (TSi), and Motech will be the surviving company and remain the same company name post the merger.
The global demand is expected to reach 51.4GW in 2015, with an annual demand growth rate of 16.5% and an increased installation of 7GW compared to 2014, according to EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce. In terms of the supply end, the Chinese makers has announced to expand production capacity in 2015, with an increase of 4.2GW in module production capacity, taking up 8.2% of the worldwide demand; non-Chinese module makers will increase production capacity by 1.1GW, which is approximately 2% of the worldwide demand.
United States Department of Commerce has announced its 2014 anti-dumping and countervailing duties final tariff ruling on December 17th. Tariffs for Chinese manufacturers are higher than the preliminary determination, while lowered slightly for Taiwanese makers. Chinese modules’ anti-dumping (AD) tariffs range from 26.71% to 165.04%; while the countervailing duties (CVD) range from 27.64% to 49.79%.
The worldwide solar market demand in 2014 was approximately at 44GW, even though the China market did not perform as well as expectations, due to the continuous growth in Japan and the U.S. market, the supply and demand remained stable. At the end of 2014, the overall supply chain maintained a solid utilization rate, while China’s tier-one module manufacturers also continued to break shipment records.
