Japanese television sales slump LCD panel market is in the doldrums

According to Japanese media reports, as the demand for LCD TVs plummeted in the sluggish market, many TV makers in Japan have fallen into a deficit. These companies strongly demand that panel companies adjust their prices. As a result, glass substrates and LED lamps have been used to produce LCD panels. The continued decline in transaction prices.

The drop in the price of LCD TVs has affected the decline in the prices of panel raw materials. Asahi Glass, a large company specializing in the production of liquid crystal glass substrates, said in early February that “in January-March this year, the prices of panel raw materials have suddenly accelerated.”

In 2011, under the background of excess supply of LCD panels, the demand for glass substrates also appeared sluggish. According to an analysis made by an economic survey company in Japan from July to September last year and from October to December, "The price of glass substrates has dropped by more than 5%, and this trend will continue." It is understood that glass substrates The yield is much higher than other panel materials such as thin films and semiconductors used for screen processing. In the boom period of the panel market, the manufacturer's yield for producing liquid crystal glass substrates can reach about 50%.

At present, the overall downturn in the LCD panel market has seen a long-term sustained situation. 32-inch LCD panels, the average price in January this year, about 125 US dollars, a larger decline year-on-year. TV makers, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, had a large backlog of inventory of production materials. In addition, the global economic downturn and the emergence of the European debt crisis have also aggravated the slump in TV sales. This slump has also spread to the store sales business, and the panel market has since fallen into a slump. The prices of large-scale products of sixth-generation products (1.5×1.8 meters) or more during the period from October to December last year are, on average, about 30% lower than the January-March period of 2010.

The current panel price is roughly the same as the original production price. In the current situation where panel makers are unable to make profits and suffer from support, material manufacturers have to implement significant price reductions. Panel prices from January to March this year are still in the statistics, but a US panel production company stated that “the price drop rate in the previous period is expected to increase by double digits from last October to December.” It seems that the current situation The improvement is still not optimistic.

As LED materials for panel backlights, the price decline has also emerged as an irresistible trend. In the backdrop of severe oversupply, the price of LED chips has dropped by 4 to 50% compared with a year ago. With regard to the drop in panel prices, manufacturers are interested in reducing the number of LED lights installed on each panel (by 3-4 percent), and begin to design such products. Therefore, the demand for LEDs will also start to decline on the level of product configuration. . LED manufacturers face challenges, and panel makers are demanding that they research and produce high-performance products with more powerful lighting functions in order to change the status of low prices, but an LED large-scale production company stated that “even if it does not allow prices to bottom out. ”

The person in charge of Japan JP Morgan Securities stated that “from October to December 2011, there was a collective deficit in the listed companies of TV sets, panels, and production materials.”

The Japanese media concluded that currently the industry is generally looking forward to the end of the year's business warfare to inject vitality into the TV market to drive the entire industry chain. However, "suppliers that want to expand their market share to produce cheaper products may appear." Such suspicions are also heard. Even if the panel price rebounds, whether it will directly reflect the price of production materials is still looking like a flower.