With demand in the China market for LCD TVs in 2015 forecast to decrease on year, China-based LCD TV vendors are likely to lower target shipments accordingly and consequently the supply of LCD TV panels may exceed demand and prices could fall in the second half of 2015, according to industry sources.

LCD TV sales in China are expected to drop about 5% in 2014 and another 1.8% in 2015, according to estimates by AVC. While certain panel prices are expected to remain stable or slightly increase in the first half of 2015, pricing may take a hit if supply chains overestimate the market during the busier purchasing season in the second half.

However, as the TV market in China is maturing, vendors' shipments of larger-size, higher-end units such as Ultra HD TVs are increasing. Additionally, vendors are looking to markets abroad in order to keep shipment and sales figures steady.

TCL in particular saw the effects of focusing on outside markets based on its October 2014 performance. The company reported sales of 610,800 in the China market during October, down 9.8% on year, while its overall sales were 10.7% higher on year due to a 37.5% increase in sales in markets outside China.

Meanwhile, TV supply chains recently said they estimate that TV shipments in 2015 will increase 10% on year to around 230 million driven by large-size TV demand in mature economies and small-size TV demand in emerging economies.