(Yicai Global) June 13 -- BOE Technology Group, TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology and other big Chinese liquid crystal display manufacturers are reducing output starting from this month to try and stop a freefall in prices caused by a global glut.

Panel makers are cutting production by 16 percent on average from this month, Rong Chaoping, senior researcher at market research firm AVC Revo, told Yicai Global. Television panel makers are expected to ship 3.6 million less panels than last month.

Panel makers will reduce capacity by between 15 and 20 percent this month, said Wu Rongbing, chief analyst at Chinese semiconductor intelligence service Omdia.

TCL China Star intends to continue with its production cuts until September, while Beijing-based BOE and HKC Optoelectronics Technology have not yet decided how long they will reduce output, Rong said. None of the three companies responded when contacted by Yicai Global.

LCD TV display shipments from China’s five largest panel manufacturers accounted for 68.5 percent of the global market in April, a new high, and they were expected to exceed 70 percent this year, according to Omdia.

But there is much less demand for notebook computers, monitors and TVs now that fewer people are working from home as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes and amid pressure from global inflation. This is driving prices down, said Li Yaqin, general manager of market research firm Sigmaintell.

The global panel industry is expected to slash production by about 20 percent this year, according to Beijing-based Sigmaintell. It is the first time since 2013 that the worldwide sector has implemented such a large-scale and wide-ranging cut in manufacturing. But it should help to slow the fall in prices, Li said.

“Tumbling prices are squeezing profits,” Li said. “The price of a TV panel is now below cost price and that of some data panels is also below the manufacturing cost.”

The price of small and medium-sized TV displays has more than halved since the highest point last year, and that of large-sized screens have fallen by more than 40 percent, according to AVC Revo.

“Panel makers are facing rising liquidity pressure and bigger losses as prices are now below cost price, so the display industry is likely to undergo another big reshuffle,” Rong said.

Excess supply will ease in the third quarter once output is cut, and prices will start to pick up and then flatten out, Li said. Demand for consumer electronic products is shrinking by far more than expected so it is too early to tell whether prices will rebound in the second half, she added.

Panel prices are likely to stop dropping this month or next as output falls, Wu said. Whether prices will start to pick up soon depends on when demand improves.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor