Flat-TV stockpiles threaten prices 08/11/2006 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608110121.html Although sales of flat-panel TVs got a little kick from the World Cup, they fell far short of expectations. In the three months through June, all manufacturers saw the sales value of flat panel TVs exceed last year's figures. Most companies, however, had geared up for even stronger demand and are now overstocked with inventory, which could lead to steep price cuts. "We did a little worse than we had expected," Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Executive Vice President Tetsuya Kawakami said. In the three months through June, Matsushita's total sales value of flat-panel TVs, both plasma and liquid-crystal displays, rose 60 percent year-on-year to 182.6 billion yen. In Europe, the figure doubled from the previous year to 54.4 billion yen. But still, it was lower than the manufacturer had projected. "We were expecting too much," Senior Managing Director Shunzo Ushimaru said. Sony Corp. was also disappointed. Its overall TV sales, including cathode-ray tube sets, was 262 billion yen, up 70 percent from the same period the previous year. Its Bravia LCD TV sets were the largest contributor. The company does not disclose the sales of flat-panel TVs alone, but a representative said Sony was not able to achieve its projections. "We were hoping to sell 40 percent or more over the previous year in the overall domestic market, but had a growth of less than 40 percent," Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda said. The overall flat-panel TV market had record high sales during last year's Christmas shopping season from October through December. Industry observers were focusing on how much the World Cup would boost April-June sales, usually a slow time of the year. "Inventory grew by 4.9 billion yen," said Yukihiro Tanii, managing director of Victor Co. of Japan. "I've heard that in Europe there are inventory gluts in the entire industry." Though there has been scant price competition recently, observers say manufacturers might start cutting prices to clear inventory. Sharp Corp. could not raise production of large LCD TV panels because its new factory in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, will not start operations until October. According to the company, its quarterly results were not below projections. "We had said at the outset that there would be no special demand from the World Cup," Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Hiroshi Saji said. Still, total sales value of the company's LCD TVs rose 40 percent over the previous year to 117.5 billion yen. Figures of Pioneer Corp., considerably smaller than the top three--Sharp, Matsushita and Sony--exceeded initial projections.(IHT/Asahi: August 11,2006) Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
