Prices for liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels used in monitors may begin to fall by as much as 3.4 percent in the second half of this month, ending a six-month uptrend as supply and demand reach parity, market researcher DisplaySearch said in its latest report.
Pricing pressure is expected come into play through next month, the Austin, Texas-based research house said in a biweekly report released on Saturday.
The price weakness could be an early sign of a new slowdown, which was originally expected in the final month of next quarter, HSBC Securities projections showed.
Prices for monitor panels are expected to drop the fastest as “monitor panels with 16:9 aspect ratio are reversing to oversupply,” DisplaySearch said. “Monitor brands and original electronics manufacturers are becoming cautious about inventories on concerns about price erosion next quarter.”
A 20-inch LCD monitor with 16:9 aspect ratio may drop US$3, or 3.4 percent, to US$85 per unit in the second half of this month, from US$88 in the first half, DisplaySearch’s statistics showed.
The “slow season for the LCD sector [is] kicking in one to two months earlier, driven by continued negative newsflow on a hard landing for the LCD sector in the fourth quarter,” HSBC Securities analyst Frank Su (蘇�? said in a report issued last week.
The speculation may push panel buyers to trim orders before visibility of sell-though improves, Su said. He originally expected the slow season to begin in December.
The report said panel makers are managing to hold their price quotes for TV screens steady for the next two weeks as they “are seeing increasing demand from Europe,” the world’s biggest LCD TV market, the report said.
Some Chinese TV makers have wrapped up their inventory for the upcoming shopping season, the researcher said.
“Panel price negotiations are expected to be tough for some panel makers,” it said.
The Chinese market was a major export destination for local panel makers over the past two quarters, as demand in the world’s major TV markets, the US and Europe, were sluggish because of the economic turbulence.
The price of a 32-inch LCD panel may remain unchanged at US$215 for the second half of this month, DisplaySearch said.
HSBC retained an “overweight” rating on the nation’s top LCD panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), South Korean LG Display Co Ltd and Taiwan’s Innolux Display Inc (群創光電).
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