The Latin American television market is set to make a rapid technology transition during the next four years, with LCD TV shipments to the region rising to account for more than 83 percent of the market by 2012, up from 16.5 percent in 2007, according to iSuppli.
Shipments of LCD TVs to Latin America will rise to 18.7 million units in 2012, up from 3.1 million in 2007. Conversely, CRT-TV shipments will decline to 1.8 million units or 8 percent of the market by 2012, down from 77.4 percent in 2007, according to the market research firm.
The rise of LCD TV sales will drive the overall Latin American television market, which will expand at a faster rate than the global TV business, despite a near-term downturn. Latin American television shipments are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6 percent, from 2008 to 2012. Worldwide shipments will rise by only 4 percent during the same period, the company forecasts.
The Latin American television market underwent a phase of fast gross domestic product (GDP) growth in recent years. The improvement in the regional economy and an increase in exports spurred higher consumer spending through 2007.
However, with the recent downturn in global economies, Latin America is starting to see a slowdown. Latin American GDP growth will decline to 4.4 percent this year and to 4.1 percent in 2009, down from 5.4 percent in 2007 and 6.2 percent in 2006, says iSuppli.
This will cause regional television shipments to decline by 4.6 percent in 2008, and by 7.5 percent in 2009. Shipments will return to growth with a rise of 1.9 percent in 2010. Shipments won't recover to the 2007 level until 2011, when they mount a vigorous recovery, rising by 12.5 percent compared to 2011. With shipments increasing by a robust 19.3 percent in 2012, the market will achieve a 6 percent CAGR for the period from 2008 to 2012, says the research firm.
For more information, visit www.isuppli.com.
