Russia's LCD TV market will achieve double-digit growth

According to the television research report of IHS iSuppli Corporation, with the growing middle class that favors advanced TV technology, shipments of Russian LCD TVs are expected to grow strongly by 10% this year. Russia belongs to the so-called BRIC countries and is an important market.

Russian LCD TV shipments this year are expected to increase from 5.9 million units in 2010 to 6.5 million units. It is expected that the growth rate will increase by 15% and 11% in 2012 and 2013, respectively, and then the growth rate will decrease to a single-digit level. By 2015, Russia's LCD TV shipments will reach 9.2 million units.

As the main TV technology in the current Russian market, LCDs account for 80% of the country’s total TV shipments and 88% of total sales. In contrast, CRT TVs only account for 14%, and the rest of the market is for plasma technology.

This means that flat-panel TVs, including LCDs and plasmas, will account for 86% of Russian TV shipments. In the BRICS countries, Russia has a larger land area than China, Brazil and India. Last year, the population of Russia was 142 million, which is the lowest among BRICS countries. According to the public data of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) ranked third among BRICS countries in 2010, ranking behind China and Brazil. Overall, the BRICS countries are in a similar stage of accelerating economic development.

Although the Russian LCD TV market will achieve strong growth this year, it still pales in comparison with the US market. It is estimated that the LCD TV shipments in the United States will reach 33.7 million units in 2011. Among the BRICS countries, Russia ranked third in LCD TV shipments in 2011, lower than China’s 40 million and Brazil’s 7.8 million.

Liquid Crystals Drive CRT Destruction In recent years, the Russian LCD TV market has grown steadily, compressing CRT market sites. Factors that have contributed to the growth of the LCD TV market in the country include active marketing activities, falling prices, continuous technological advances, and the shift to digital television broadcasting. The middle class currently accounts for 35% of the approximately 50 million households in Russia. The growth of this class is also an important factor driving the growth of the LCD TV market. The 30-49-year-old people are the most active consumers in Russia.

These factors have caused the permanent decline of the Russian CRT market. Its share will decline from double digits in this year to only 2% by 2015.

IHS believes that in the LCD TV field, the 32-inch is still the most popular, but the future growth will come from 40-inch and 50-inch and above. At the same time, full-HDTV is expected to account for 42% of the LCD market this year.

In contrast, the characteristics of other high-end liquid crystals have not developed smoothly. For example, LED technology is well-known in the Russian TV market, but its price is 50% higher than that of LCD TVs, hindering its faster acceptance. The Internet and 3D are also characteristics that consumers aspire to, although the number of TVs that currently support these features is still small.

Samsung and LG are the largest LCD TV manufacturers in Russia and are produced in their own factories. However, Philips and Sony are also important manufacturers. Their television sets are assembled in Russia by foundry manufacturers. The Kaliningrad Special Economic Zone is located on the coast of the Black Sea in northwestern Russia and accounts for about 50% of the domestic assembled LCD TVs. The remaining production comes from other regions including Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Russian retail chains and so-called giant supermarkets account for the majority of television sales, while smaller retail stores account for 15%. The closure of the famous Moscow wholesale market Cherkišzovsky in 2010 is expected to benefit authentic products including television. Cherki¬zovsky is known for its low-priced goods and often sells counterfeit products.