The devastating March earthquake and tsunami in Japan apparently has caused minimal disruption to the supply of large-screen LCD panels, reports IHS iSuppli.
In fact, the research organization noted that prices of large LCD panels will drop marginally in April. Across the three major large-sized LCD panel applications for TV, monitors and notebooks, pricing as a whole will fall 0.5 percent in April from their previous level in March. The drop will be the smallest in several months. Large-sized LCD panels are defined as those with a diagonal dimension of 10.4in and larger.
Pricing developments varied among the three large-sized LCD panel applications. In the TV segment, large-sized LCD pricing declined by 0.8 percent — the only application to post a decrease. In comparison, notebook panel pricing inched up by 0.2 percent, while monitor panel pricing rose by 0.4 percent.
“The slight decrease overall in large LCD panel pricing shows that the segment has not yet suffered major impacts from the Japanese disaster,” said Stacy Wu, senior analyst for displays research at IHS. “Despite materials plants being shut down immediately after the quake, many manufacturing lines have recovered and production has returned.”
For TV panels, weak sales in the United States and Europe, along with lukewarm inventory replenishment in China, combined to reduce pricing in March, IHS iSuppli research indicated. Another slight decline in April is expected, given that TV panels are still in a state of oversupply.
