OLED televisions by LG Electronics Co. are on display at an electronics store in Seoul on Oct. 12, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Last year, the visual display businesses at Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. saw drops in the capacity utilization rate from the previous year, but the average sales price per device sold increased, largely thanks to premium TVs, data showed Tuesday.
Leaders Index studied the business reports of the two companies published in the last three years, which showed that Samsung’s production capacity in the visual display division jumped to 54.2 million units last year, up 5.2 percent from the previous year.
The actual production performance, however, was 44.1 million units, which was 8.5 percent lower.
The capacity utilization rate, as a result, stood at 81.4 percent, which was 12.2 percentage points lower than in 2020. It was even lower than in the pre-pandemic era in 2019 (85.5 percent).
LG’s production capacity was 27.5 million units, up by 10.5 percent, but the actual production performance was 26.5 million units, an increase of 4.3 percent, indicating a capacity utilization rate of 96.6 percent, down by 5.6 percentage points from 2020.
Despite a drop in production performance, however, Samsung’s video device sales reached 31.5 trillion won (US$24.8 billion), up 13.7 percent from the previous year. LG reported sales of 19.7 trillion won, up 31 percent on year.
This is largely attributed to the increasing presence of high-priced, premium TVs, which has led to higher purchasing prices per unit.
Samsung’s sales price per unit grew from 574,409 won in 2020 to 713,693 won last year, up by 24.2 percent.
LG’s unit sales price grew to 743,190 won, up by 25.6 percent, following the expansion of the company’s premium OLED TV production. The company shipped more than 4 million OLED TV units last year, doubling from the previous year.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
