Source: CCTV Finance
Since the third quarter of last year, with the saturation of terminal demand, the prosperity of the panel industry has turned downward, and the price of panels has declined for nearly 8 months. As of now, the average price of some mainstream size LCD panels has been cut compared to last year's high point, so will the price of the panel continue to fall? What is the current production situation of panel manufacturers?
Demand reduction LCD panel prices fell for 8 consecutive months
Zhang Jinwei is responsible for the management of this panel warehouse. Since the third quarter of last year, he has obviously felt that he is not as busy as before, and the pace of shipments has been relatively slow.
Before July last year, the panel industry had experienced the longest cycle of price increases, lasting nearly 15 months. Since then, due to the continuous decline in panel demand, the inventory of panel companies has also been relatively large. As inventory increases, so does panel prices. Huaan Securities research data shows that at present, the prices of 32-inch, 43-inch and 55-inch LCD panels are 42 US dollars, 74 US dollars and 117 US dollars respectively, compared with the high point in June 2021, down 52%, 45% and 48% respectively. Mainstream size panel prices are almost waist-cutting.
Zhao Jun, chief operating officer of TCL Huaxing: The reasons are manifold, the most important reason is that the epidemic is at home, resulting in a rapid growth trend in the demand for consumer electronics, to some extent, the demand behind it has been overdrawn; due to the rapid increase in demand, the price growth has been very large, and to some extent, it has also suppressed some demand.
Industry insiders expect that the price of large-size panels may still have room to decline, and with the arrival of the consumer electronics peak season, the price of small-size panels is expected to stabilize first.
Color TV market downturn Tv sets or continue to reduce prices
Lcd panel can account for more than 50% of the cost of an LCD TV, it can be said that the fluctuation of panel prices directly affects the nerves of TV manufacturers, but also affects the pricing of color TVs. So has this round of decline in panel prices been transmitted to the terminal? Is there a price reduction for color TVs?
At a home appliance store in Shenzhen, the person in charge of the sales of color TV products told reporters that although it is not the peak season for TV sales, they still plan to take advantage of the opportunity of real estate spring decoration to carry out promotions.
In fact, since the second quarter of last year, the domestic color TV market has been relatively sluggish. Zhongyikang data shows that in 2021, the mainland color TV market shipped a total of 37.03 million units, down 10.4% from 2020. This year's New Year's Day and Spring Festival market conditions maintained the previous trend, shipments fell by about 10% year-on-year.
Peng Xiandong, general manager of the major appliances division of Zhongyikang, said that the price of the whole machine is very obviously affected by the price fluctuation of the LCD panel, but the general price of the whole machine will be slightly delayed by about three months than the price change of the LCD panel. So far, because the price of the panel has not yet bottomed out, so in the later period, as the price of the panel further explores, the price of the LCD TV in 2022 also has a relatively large downward pressure. The reporter learned that compared with large-sized televisions, the price fluctuations of small and medium-sized products will be greater.
Xu Wenlong, purchasing director of the audio-visual multimedia business department of a home appliance store in Shenzhen: Small and medium-sized segments, such as 32 inches, 43 inches, 45 inches, the core factor affecting the price in these size segments is the screen. Their prices will fall to a certain extent, and the price will fall by about 10 points. The large size now keeps the price relatively stable.
Industry insiders said that although the price of the panel has dropped significantly, because the price of other raw materials is still at a high level, the decline in color TV prices is also relatively limited, and the industry price war is unlikely to appear again in the short term.