Nikkei: TV LCD panel prices continue to fall, more than 2 years low

 TV (TV) sales are sluggish, but in order to ensure market share and supply continues to exceed demand, panel manufacturers have led to excess inventory in the supply chain, dragging down the price of LCD panels for TVs, and the price of indicator products has hit a new low in more than two years.

 Nikkei reported on February 28 that TV sales were sluggish, but in order to ensure market share and supply continued to exceed demand, panel manufacturers led to excess inventory in the supply chain, which dragged down the price of LCD panels for TVs, and the wholesale price of indicator products in February. It hit a new low level in more than two years (since January 2020).

 Among the prices agreed between Chinese and Korean panel
makers and TV makers in February, the wholesale price per unit of the benchmark product 55-inch Open cell (referring to semi-finished products without backlight) fell by 3% compared with the previous month (January) (down $3) to around $109, a new low since January 2020; the price of 32-inch products was unchanged from the previous month at around $39.

 The price of LCD panels for TVs has been on the rise since June 2020, and has doubled in one year. However, due to the economic restart, consumption shifted to entertainment fields such as tourism and leisure, resulting in sluggish TV sales. There will be a sharp decline from the summer of 2021. A panel industry source said, "The panel fell faster than expected."

 According to a survey by the US research firm DSCC, the global panel inventory index (the panel production area divided by the shipment area) was 107 at the end of March, higher than 100, which is considered to be the average inventory level, equivalent to three weeks more than the normal level of supply chain inventory. "As inventories increase, prices have fallen," said DSCC Asia representative Yoshio Tamura. 

 According to statistics released by the Japan Electronic Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) on February 22, Japan's domestic thin TV shipments (including 4K TVs and OLED TVs) in January 2022 decreased by 4.7% compared with the same month last year to 395,000 units,it shrank for the seventh consecutive month.