In May of this year, TV panel prices fell faster than expected due to greater inventory pressure, which caused panel makers great panic. The sharp drop in overall prices in May surprised the industry.
According to IHS analysis, due to the following reasons, the current TV panel market has become quite conservative.
1. At the end of May this year, the United States proposed to impose a 25% tariff on Chinese-made TV sets. This has affected the needs of US retailers. Now is the peak season for promotion. Retailers are looking for alternative solutions to prevent tariffs from becoming effective.
2. The demand for the World Cup seems to be weaker than expected. Some television manufacturers have lowered their shipment expectations for the second quarter in order to adjust inventory.
3. Chinese TV makers still maintain high panel inventory at the end of April. Therefore, they will have to manage panel purchases with caution and may cause panel makers to lower prices. For Chinese TV makers, the upcoming 618 Promotion is very important.
4. Most panel makers have decided to maintain capacity in the second quarter in order to remain cost-competitive as the sharply falling panel price has seriously eroded profits.
5.BOE's 10.5-generation line has been able to produce 65-inch panels, and more than 10 TV manufacturers have already obtained the qualification to purchase panels. Some TV makers used this as a bargaining chip for price negotiations, despite the production capacity of BOE 10.5. Not completely released.
6. In order to clean up inventory, TV manufacturers are pricing TV at a lower price, so they asked panel makers to make more price concessions in the second quarter.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the demand of some TV manufacturers is growing, especially China's low-end TV manufacturers, who have been negotiating with panel makers in recent months to obtain certain 'special' prices. Psychological warfare plays an important role in the negotiations. In order to encourage Chinese low-end TV manufacturers to re-fill the demand, panel makers have provided them with Q2 or Q3 price protection to support their ambitions to drive shipments.
According to the panel maker's demand for panel prices, well below the lowest point of the previous cycle, and will set a new record low, IHS expects no panel makers to overcome financial losses. It is worth noting that when When panel makers fell into deficits in the second quarter, how did they react? They might be forced to adjust plant utilization, rearrange production capacity, or simply reduce prices to launch panels. Therefore, the risk of sudden supply chain disruption cannot be ignored. The price war between inch LCD TV makers has begun, and lower market sales prices may affect sales in the second half of 2018. In addition, if U.S. tariffs are resolved, U.S. retailers may have to resume in the second quarter. demand.