Black Friday helped to stimulate sales of LCD TVs causing inventory levels to decrease. Coupled with anticipation for sales during the Lunar New Year, panel makers expect December shipments to be flat compared to November.

Sales of LCD TVs in North America have been increasing due to strong promotions by the distribution channel. The preference has been moving from 32-inch to 40- and 42-inch models. Distribution channels such as Best Buy introduced 42-inch LCD TVs from Sharp with retail prices of only US$199/unit. Industry sources indicated consumers in North America have a high sensitivity to price, as long as the price is low, demand will continue to exist. The year-end holidays will likely be the time for the market to experience another wave of price competition.

Industry sources pointed out shipments of panels in October were low as it is the traditional low season. However, November shipments have been experiencing increases due to urgent orders for the Lunar New Year.

The previous forecast for December shipments was an on-month decrease of 10-15%. However, Black Friday helped to lower inventory levels. With orders for the Lunar New Year, panel makers such as Chimei Innolux (CMI) now expect December shipments to decrease by less than 10% or hold flat compared with November shipments.

Industry sources noted end market demand has finally emerged for the end of 2011, indicating the panel market is moving away from the bottom. With effective controls on inventory and production, market watchers expect panel prices to rebound by first-quarter 2012 at the earliest.