Prices stabilized, large-size panel shipments rose in May

WitsView, a panel research division of TrendForce, released the latest May panel shipment survey report. In May 2011, shipments of large-size panels were 60.98 million, an increase of 8.2% from April.

WitsView panel analyst Chen Jianan said that in the major panel makers eager to get rid of financial losses and improve profitability, they have raised the utilization rate in the second quarter, demanding price increases for downstream customers; plus China's May sales in line with expectations, driving China Under the influence of TV brand stock demand and other factors, panel prices have stabilized in the near future after falling for nearly a year.

However, the global terminal market demand remained weak in the second quarter. Compared with Chinese brands, international first-line brands adopted conservative and rigorous attitudes in stock control and inventory control. In the absence of comprehensive support for the recovery of demand, it has also greatly weakened the upward adjustment of panel prices. With such a long-short saw, the average price of the panel was flat at the low level, and some downstream customers increased their willingness to pull goods, pushing up the performance of the May panel shipment.

In terms of applications, although China's May 1st sales performance was satisfactory and stimulated the willingness of Chinese brand manufacturers to stock their products, the demand for other major global consumer markets remained sluggish in the second quarter, resulting in a 2.1% increase in TV panel shipments compared to April shipments. Total shipments reached 16.72 million units; monitor panels shipped 17.38 million units, a monthly increase of 2.9%; notebook computer panels shipped 16.41 million units, a monthly increase of 11.6%.

In addition, the shipment performance of panel PCs for regular tablets continued to grow, which was 27.4% higher than the previous month. Shipments came to 6.34 million tablets. The netbook panel was adopted by second-tier white card manufacturers and was equipped with tablet computer products. It also continued to drive shipments in May to 4.11 million, an increase of 21.1% from April.

May 2011 TFT-LCD Application Panel Shipments (Unit: 1,000 pieces)

In terms of individual manufacturers, May shipments ranked LG Display, Samsung, Chimei Innolux, and AUO in order, with shipments accounting for 28% and 24.4 respectively. %, 18.6%, 16.2%. Among them, LG Display was the shipping champion for applications such as TV, Notebook, and Tablet. New Chimei Electronics took the lead in shipping MNT panels, leading the pack.

In the Chinese market, panel makers accounted for the most competitive LG Display and New Chi Mei Electronics, which are also the two manufacturers with the most significant growth in panel shipments. They respectively increased shipments by 12% and 11% over the previous month. Samsung Electronics and Friends Daguang Optoelectronics also increased its shipments by 5% and 4% respectively from the previous month.

WitsView pointed out that the panel market in the first quarter and the second quarter were hit by shortages and lack of materials, the strength of the daily earthquake and the strength of the global economic recovery was not as expected. In the first half of the year, panel shipments were suppressed to a considerable extent and significantly improved. The original situation of oversupply. However, in the second quarter, panel makers all hope to increase the production rate to improve production costs and increase panel prices in order to achieve a balance of profit and loss or reduce losses during the quarter, and immediately expect the arrival of demand in the third quarter of the peak season. See the cloud and see it on the sky.

However, WitsView believes that in the long-term, the supply and demand of panels will still exceed supply. If the demand in the third quarter is not as strong as expected, whether it is the gradual increase of finished products and semi-finished products in the hands of panel makers or downstream brands, it will be the third stop. The quarter panel quotes have risen without bombs.