Korean TV makers' Q2 market share to drop amid pandemic: report

SEOUL, June 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's presence in the global TV market is expected to drop in the second quarter of the year as the virus pandemic significantly damaged its key markets, the United States and Europe, a report showed Tuesday, while Chinese makers were projected to make a relatively quick recovery.

According to market tracker Omdia, global TV shipments in the April-June period are expected to reach 38.61 million units, down 17 percent from three months earlier. It is also a more than 19 percent on-year drop from a year ago.

Factory shutdowns and store closures in major markets like the U.S. and Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted global TV sales, it added.

South Korean TV makers, led by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., are estimated to ship a total of 12.77 million TVs in the second quarter, Omdia data showed, down 23.8 percent from three months earlier.

Based on the shipment volume, South Korea is expected to take a 33.1 percent market share in the second quarter, down 3 percentage points from the first quarter, according to Omdia.

In contrast, Chinese firms are projected to see their second-quarter TV shipments relatively unchanged from three months earlier at 15.14 million units, with their combined market share reaching 39.2 percent, according to the data.

The market share gap between South Korea and China is estimated to be the largest since the third quarter of 2018, when China led by 5.7 percentage points against South Korea. Since then, the gap between the two countries stayed around 1 to 3 percentage points.

"In the second quarter, South Korean firms' key markets, like the U.S. and Europe, took a severe impact from the virus pandemic," an official with a local electronics firm said on condition of anonymity. "But China, where the new coronavirus outbreak started, began to recover from the virus impact from the second quarter at a relatively quick pace."

Unlike South Korean TV makers that rely on exports, Chinese firms depend on the domestic market and that business environment may have made a difference in TV shipments in the second quarter, the official added.

By display panel, LCD TV shipments are expected to drop 19.2 percent on-year in the second quarter, but OLED TV shipments, led by LG Electronics, are estimated to increase 16.4 percent on-year in the cited period, Omdia data showed, indicating that premium TV products took less impact from the virus.

Although the second-quarter outlook appears grim, industry officials said local TV makers can make a recovery in the second half of the year, as major electronics outlets in the U.S. and Europe are reopening.

According to Omdia, global TV shipments in the second half are expected to reach 121.41 million units, up 47 percent from its first-half shipments estimate of 82.09 million units.

But due to a looming second wave of COVID-19 infections around the globe, the pace of recovery could differ from country to country.

"In the second half of the year, local companies are likely to advance in their TV sales," an industry official, who asked not to be named, said. "But another possible wave of COVID-19 infections could be a key factor in the recovery of the TV market."

kdon@yna.co.kr
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