Guangdong LED industry market value grew at a Year-on-Year rate of 27.73% this year to RMB 125. 17 billion (US$ 20.45 billion), according to the “2Q13 Guangdong Province LED Industry Operation Monitoring Report” published by Guangdong Semiconductor Lighting Industry Joint Innovation Center (GSC) recently. This is the fourth consecutive year that the LED market value surpassed 20%. In addition, the region showed outstanding performance in exports, patents and other key indicators. The GSC report was officially released at the Guangdong Province’s LED industry forum recently. Highlights of the report are listed below:

1. LED industry reaches RMB 120 billion in 1H13. During first half of 2013, Guangdong Province’s LED industry market value reached RMB 125. 17 billion. The province’s luminaires, backlight sources, and package components grew 55.96%, 46.63%, and 37.14% respectively and became the main drive behind the LED industry’s stable expansion. Initial accounting showed, the Guangdong Province LED industry value increased at a YOY rate of 27.72% to RMB 29.05 billion. During 1Q13, the LED industry market grew at a YOY rate of 21.09% to RMB 11.26 billion, and in 2Q13 the industry grew at an even faster rate of 32.03% to RMB 17.79 billion. 

2. Improved export environment, LED trade surpass US$ 50 billion. According to the report, the Guangdong province exports amounted to US$ 55.44 billion in 1H13, and up 21.2% compared to the same period in 2012. Exports increased 18.2% to US$31.64 billion compared to 2012, and imports grew 25.5% to US$ 23.80 billion. Guangdong is the leading trader among Chinese provinces, and also the top coastal city in terms of trade growth’s speed and scale. Under this general environment, the Guangdong LED industry continued to show strong export growths in 1H13, with export values reaching RMB 54.09 billion, with LED core industries showing good growth.

3. LED patent applications exceed 40,000 and account for about a quarter of LED applications in China. As of June 2013, patent applications in Guangdong totaled 43,787, which is about 26.29% of LED patent applications nationwide. The LED patent applications represent 3.90% of the total of patent applications submitted in Guangdong province. Patent application structures revealed as of June 2013, the Guangdong Province LED lighting industry has applied for 9,684 invention patents, which is about 22.12% of total applications. Around 56.12% of patents filed were utility model patents amounting to 24,573. Ranked last were design patents of nearly 21.76% and totaled 9,530.

4. Local LED street light and tunnel light bids exceeds 270,000 lamps. As of June 2013, Guangdong Province LED streetlight and tunnel light bids amounted to 272,690 lamps. More than 11 local cities had bided more than 10,000 lamps, the top three being Huizhou, Dongyuan, and Shenzhen. Huizhou bided 38,360 LED street lights and tunnel lights in 1H13, about 14.07% of total bids. In second, Donyuan had bided 29,529 LED lamps and tunnel lights during the same period, accounting 10.83% of total bids. Shenzhen took a 10.44% share of the total LED lamp and tunnel light bids, amounting to 28, 482.

5. Market rebounds stably, and expected to strengthen. In 2Q13, the province’s LED industry’s climate index was 125.2, obviously higher than the prosperity threshold of 100. The industry is in the prosper region, which indicates the industry is performing very well and has an optimistic outlook. The current climate index is 119.5, while the forecasted future climate index is 129.0. Both are higher than the 100 boundary. From an industry profit perspective, in second quarter of 2013, 79.3% of companies had maintained or outperformed previous quarter. While from a sales perspective, 84.6% of companies in 2Q13 reported maintaining the same level or surpassing sales compared to last quarter, and around 82.9% of companies surveyed expect sales to further improve next quarter.