Dramatic demand decline pulls down LED price in Q310, down pressure likely to exist in Q4

TAIWAN: LEDinside has released its latest LED price trend report, showing that the LED price plummeted sharply in Q3 2010 due to the sudden decline in the LED application demand including inventory adjustment resulting from less-than-expected large-size panel demand and sluggish lighting application demand.

The LED price for large-size panel application fell around 11-16 percent, while the price for high power LED for lighting application slumped more than 17 percent. As for the mobile application, LED price was roughly flat with about 3-4 percent seasonal erosion thanks to the relatively stable demand.Source: LEDinside, Taiwan.

In light of large and medium-size backlight applications in Q3 2010, under the combined influence of inventory adjustment and weakening LED demand due to worse-than-expected panel shipment, the price of mainstream 5630 LED for TV backlight application lowered about 11 percent, price at $0.17-$0.12. Meanwhile, the LED price for NB and LCD monitor backlight application decreased between 12-16 percent as well.

LEDinside points out that the price of LED products which include 0.4t and 0.6t for mobile backlight applications is expected to remain stable, down around 3-4 percent as a result of the stable shipment.

Regarding the high power LED for lighting applications, the LED price severely slid due to an enlarging supply and demand gap because new projects sluggish and the demand didn’t meet expectations plus new production capacity readiness. The price of mainstream 100-120lm dropped up to 20 percent in Q3.

LED price outlook for Q4 2010
LEDinside predicts that the mainstream product specification might have minor change as Q4 2010 enters the seasonal down cycle although there are new products in developing.

As demand on new type TV backlight is limited and new lighting demand doesn't turn strong, the LED price is estimated to decline near 10 percent under down pressure in Q4 2010.

The market price pressure is expected to stabilize between the end of Q4 2010 and the beginning of Q1 2011, because the demand for shipment of large-size backlight is expecting to picking up. Meanwhile, the demand for LED lighting is expected to rebound.