By Sharleen D'Souza
Consumers may have to shell out more to buy television panels as manufacturers say they may raise prices again in April.
The industry has been facing this issue of price rise post the pandemic and open cell prices have gone up by around 30 per cent in the last one year.
And, television panel manufacturers expect this trend to continue.
Manufacturers may take a price hike of up to 10 per cent.
They had already hiked prices earlier this year due to rising open cell rates.
This has pushed them to take another round of price hikes.
Open cell, one of the main components in manufacturing television sets, contributes 60-65 per cent of the manufacturing cost of TVs.
Also, the main component is manufactured by four-five companies in China due to which the pricing power of open cell remains in their hands.
While open cell prices rose last year in August, it came off later as manufacturers cut prices.
While the decision to raise prices rests with manufacturers, a retailer said that both small and large screen television panels are expected to see an increase.
It also depends on how manufacturers choose to pass it on and the level of inventory they are carrying.
Demand for television panels in the Indian market has been soft post the festival season.
Open cell prices are increasing month on month and there is a demand-and-supply situation again.
The open cell manufacturers have decided to cut their production.
Therefore, they will increase the prices.
On the final product, there can be an increase of up to 10 per cent in April, Avneet Singh Marwah, director and chief executive officer (CEO), Super Plastronics, a Kodak brand licensee, told Business Standard.
He added that demand for television is currently muted.
Dixon Technologies will also pass on the price increase in open cell to its customers.
We will directly pass on the price increase of higher open cell prices to our clients, but with a lag, said Atul Lall, managing director (MD) at Dixon Technologies.
Videotex, another contract manufacturer of television panels, plans to increase prices as as open cell rates have gone up.
In recent months, there has been a noticeable increase in open cell prices, which is in line with the typical yearly trend.
Across different sizes, the industry has seen a recent rise of about 10-20 per cent.
This increase can be attributed to production cuts implemented by open cell makers, leading to a scarcity in the market and subsequent increase in demand.
Additionally, our industry's reliance on panels from specific countries makes us vulnerable to market fluctuations, said Arjun Bajaj, director at Videotex.
He added that the recent open cell price increase will raise manufacturing cost by 3-8 per cent.
It is also anticipated that this upward trend in open cell costs will continue in the coming months.
This will impact the manufacturing cost as well as the final television prices.
