(Yicai) Sept. 13 -- China’s three largest LCD panel manufacturers BOE, TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology and HKC will suspend production for a maximum of two weeks around the National Day holiday in early October in an attempt to push up prices, which have been sinking since July.

BOE, TCL China Star and HKC told their television making customers in early August that they plan to have a prolonged production shutdown around the National Day break, which runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, Rong Chaoping, research director at market research institute AVC Revo, told Yicai.

BOE will shut its large-size LCD display production lines in Hefei, Wuhan, Fuzhou and Chengdu from Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, according to industry insiders. And the Beijing factory, which produces both IT displays and TV panels, will close for 12 days. 

While TCL China Star’s four large-size LCD panel plants in Shenzhen will shutter for 14 days. Although one plant for small and medium-sized LCD panels will only shut down for seven days. HKC’s four factories across China will suspend production for between 13 and 14 days.

The shutdowns are set to cut the capacity utilization rate of the three LCD panel giants to as low as 50 percent in October, according estimation by AVC Revo.

When asked by Yicai about their panel plants shutdown schedule, representatives from the three companies all refused to answer directly, only to state that they had no information to disclose.

“It is normal for factories to adjust production according to market demand,” one person from one of the three added.

The global price of LCD panels has resumed decline since July, according to the latest report from Sigmaintell Consulting. The price of most large size panels slumped in September, while only 32-inch panel prices stayed steady. 

The fourth quarter is off season for TV manufacturers adding their stock in LCD panels, so industry giants need to take the lead in controlling output, Zhang Hong, deputy general manager of the large-size panel division at Sigmaintell, told Yicai. Only in this way can manufacturers effectively cut market inventory and promote the balance between supply and demand.

On the other hand, less production by panel factories will squeeze the margins of TV manufacturers, Zhang said. Therefore, in the long run, manufacturers in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain need to balance the distribution of benefits to ensure mutual sustainable growth.

With the gradual withdrawal of Japanese and South Korean capacities, the market share of Chinese panel makers is steadily increasing as well as their market influence, Chinese manufacturers are expected to account for 72.7 percent of the global LCD panel market by 2025, according to Sigmaintell.

It is the second long holiday for the three companies this year. They previously extended the one-week Chinese New Year holiday in February to two weeks due to decreasing product prices, cutting capacity utilization rate to as low as 50 percent too that month.

The measure was helpful in February, along with several other positive market development, after the Spring Festival break, panel prices rebounded until July as TV manufacturers became more hesitant to stock up.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor