Large-sized panel shipments rise by 27.8% MoM to 35.56 million units in March
According to WitsView’s latest survey, global large-sized panel shipments (including the 8.9” and above) reached 35.56 million units in Mar09, up by 27.8% MoM, but still down by 4.2% YoY. Despite the influx of orders from downstream clients during Jan09 and Feb09, due to the panel makers’ low utilization rates and shortage of some components, the shipments during the two respective months were not notable. But in Mar09, panel makers were more capable in handling the orders, thanks to rising utilization rates and more stable component supply. Coupled by the scheduled launch of new end products in 2Q09, it helped further push up the aggregated panel shipments in Mar09. Meanwhile, as Mar09 marks the end of the first quarter, in light of the heavy losses incurred in 4Q08, the 1Q09 panel shipment performance and quarterly financial report will be under a lot of attention. Amid this pressure, it also spurred panel makers to more aggressively boost their shipments, thus resulting in a higher-than-expected growth.
In Mar09, double-digit shipment increases continued to be seen for all 3 major applications. In the IT panel segment, the 8.9” and above Netbooks and conventional NB panels surged by 33.2% MoM to 11.11 million units, the largest increase among the 3 main applications. The sharp growth was attributed to the launch of new LED and 16:9 end products. Meanwhile, monitor panels were up by 24.2% MoM to 14.72 million units. Growth remained stable, due to the continued inventory restocking. Finally, thanks to the upcoming release of new products, small demand rebound in the US and European markets and China’s electronic product subsidy program for rural areas, TV panels rose by 27.6% MoM to 9.72 million units.
Table 1: TFT-LCD Panel Shipment in Mar-09 (K units)
In terms of the aggregated area shipments, they grew 26.5% MoM from 4.66 million square meters in Feb09 to 5.907 square meters in Mar09. Monitor panels were up by 24.8% MoM to 1.797 square meters. Meanwhile, given the strong NB unit shipments, on an area basis they were up by 32.2% MoM to 678 K square meters, the biggest growth among the three main applications. Finally, TV panels climbed 26.4% MoM to 3.43 million square meters. Notable increases were seen in the 32” and 40” segment, which helped increase the glass substrate consumption. Thanks largely to the contribution from the TV and NB panels, the aggregated YoY panel area shipments edged up by 2.6%. Positive monthly and annual area shipments were thus witnessed in Mar09.
Table 2: TFT-LCD Panel Area Shipment in Mar-09 ( K square meter)
TV Panels
In Mar09, TV panels grew by 27.6% MoM and 21.2% YoY to 9.725 million units. Since 2H08, the deteriorating macroeconomic woes led to weaker-than-expected TV panel shipments during the traditional strong fourth quarter. Amid the delay in demand, there are signs of a slight pick-up in the US and Europe. Meanwhile, China’s subsidy program has also helped boost the small-sized TV panel shipments. When the subsidy is officially raised to RMB 3,500, it should boost the 32” and 37” panel shipment momentum.
Size-wise, the shipment ratio of the 26”W and below inched up by 0.9 percentage points, concentrated mainly on the 18.5”W, 19”W and 26”W. Meanwhile, the still relatively low panel price of the mainstream 32”W allowed it to continue enjoying a more than 40% market share. For Mar09, its ratio reached 42.2%. Finally, although the launch of new models evidently helped increase the 40”W and above unit shipments, the ratio was only roughly the same as what was seen during Feb09. The growth momentum of the Moni-TV and mainstream 32”W remained the most notable.
NB Panels
The aggregated NB panel shipments (which included the 8.9” and above) in Mar09 reached 11.112 million units, up by 33.2% MoM. Compared to the same period of last year, shipments were only up slightly by 0.9%. If only the 12.1” and above is considered, the YoY change amounted to a sharp 20.7% decline. It can thus be seen Netbooks are still the main driving force behind the NB panel shipment growth. Another key reason behind the growth during Mar09 is the previous low base level.
Size-wise, the migration from the 8.9” to the 10.x”W accelerated. The market share of the latter rose to 2.8% during Mar09. Meanwhile, thanks to the launch of many new models during Mar09, it helped spur the growth of 16:9 formats, which included the 13.4”W, 14”W, 15.6”W, 16”W, 17.3”W and 18.4”W.
Monitor Panels
In Mar09, monitor panel shipments rose by 24.2% MoM to 14.725 million units. But on a yearly basis, it was equivalent to a 17.7% drop. The overall shipment results were still lower than previous historical levels. In the wake of the strong inventory restocking, there are concerns whether the momentum will start to weaken during Jun09, which may introduce an unstable factor to the monitor panel demand and supply changes during 2H09. WitsView believes this will largely depend on the forthcoming actual end market demand.
Size-wise, little market share changes were seen. Strong shipments of the mainstream 19’W resulted in its ratio to increase the most, reaching 4.2%. Separately, the 22”W was up by 0.4 percentage points. Finally, other sizes that experienced a small market share increase were the new 16:9 formats, such as the 15”W, 20”W, 21.5”W, 21.6”W and 23.6”W, thus resulting in their supply to be slightly tight.
