TAIPEI, TAIWAN: According to WitsView’s survey, global large-sized panel shipments (including the 8.9” and above) reached 22.23 million units, down by 16.9 percent MoM and a staggering 33.5 percent YoY.

Looking at the recent industry development, amid the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, there were fewer working days in January.

Coupled by the sharp utilization cuts by the Taiwan, China and Japan panel makers, the average panel inventory levels have been maintained at less than three weeks. This has created a situation where not all of the downstream clients’ rush orders can be satisfied now.

Nevertheless, the persisting macroeconomic woes continue to push up unemployment rates. The resulting tighter consumer spending remains as a huge obstacle to the downstream market demand. Faced with the unfavorable conditions both from an industry and market standpoint, the low confidence level has made the traditional weak seasonality even weaker.

Among the three main applications, IT panels posted a double digit shipment decline. Aggregated shipments of the 8.9” and above netbook plus larger-sized NB panels reached 6.836 million units, down by a whopping 28.5 percent MoM.

TFT-LCD Panel Shipment in Jan-09 (K units)
Due to the still weak downstream market demand, the shrinking amount of outsourcing orders continued to weigh on the overall supply chain. Meanwhile, monitor panel shipments slipped by 16.8 percent MoM to 8.694 million units.

Despite the influx of rush orders, the market demand visibility remains unclear, thus explaining the still conservative market atmosphere. Finally, in the TV segment, the shipment fall was much more moderate, where it fell by a mere 0.8 percent MoM to 6.706 million units.

The TV panel demand rebound, thanks to brand vendors’ preparations of new model releases and positive market effect from China’s electronic product subsidy program for rural areas helped boost January’s shipment volume.