LCD monitor vendors turn conservative about 4Q10 sales
Siu Han, Taipei; Yvonne Yu, DIGITIMES [Monday 20 September 2010]
digitimes.com
Despite the dropping panel prices, which may help to generate panel orders, LCD monitor vendors have turned conservative about their sales targets for the traditional peak season in the fourth quarter of 2010 amid unclear market demand.
Demand for LCD monitors remains weak despite vendors' actions to clean out inventories through price-cut promotions during the back-to-school season in the third quarter. Although the sales performance of LCD monitors in the North America, Europe and China markets remains stable, overall demand remains weak for the quarter.
Shipments of global top-ten LCD monitor vendors and makers in July continued to drop amid the weak overall economy in Europe and the US, and natural disasters and weakened economic growth momentum in China. LCD monitor and panel shipments in August remained weaker than expected despite seasonality, increasing less than 5% sequentially.
Demand in the consumer electronics market remains low in Europe and the US, and although demand in September is higher than in August, overall demand remains weaker than expected. For the China market, vendors provided fierce price-cut promotions during the summer vacation but failed to stimulate market demand. Prices for LCD monitors in China dropped by about 10% in August-September.
With LCD panel prices continuing to drop in August-September, panel prices for smaller-size 17- and 19-inch panels have dropped to close to cost, industry sources noted, adding that the dropping panel prices, however, have eased the pressure of decreasing profits for system makers. Panel prices are expected to be stable in October, and demand for commercial-use sizes is expected to return, the industry sources said.
Overall LCD monitor sales in the fourth quarter will increase sequentially due to seasonality but with a smaller growth compared to previous years amid unclear demand for the quarter, the sources added. |
