Pandemic’s Work, School Protocols Sent Q2 Monitor Imports Soaring, DataWeb Says
Remote-learning and work-from-home mandates combined with China’s supply chain recovery to send second-quarter PC monitor imports soaring, according to Census Bureau data accessed Aug. 23 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Shipments to the U.S. took a sharp turn toward commoditization in the quarter, clear evidence of the broad-based consumer demand for desktop displays for pairing with PCs, laptops and other connectivity tools.
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U.S. importers in Q2 sourced 11.41 million monitors from all countries under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8528.52.00 subheading, Data Web said. It was the largest quarterly volume of monitor imports to the U.S. since the ITC created HTS 8528.52.00 in a December 2016 modification, surpassing the previous high of 11.2 million in 2019's third quarter. It’s difficult to overstate the robustness of second-quarter consumer demand. NPD Group point-of-sale tracking data showed Q2 unit sales of PC monitors through “consumer channels” were up 72% from the same quarter of 2019, Vice President-Technology Stephen Baker emailed on Aug. 22.
Q2 monitor imports increased by a stunning 142.8% sequentially from Q1, when Chinese factory closures and supply chain disruptions kept quarterly volume below 5 million units for the first time since Census began tracking HTS 8528.52.00 goods, DataWeb said. Unit imports in Q2 were up 27.1% from the 2019 same quarter, a clearer measure of the spiking consumer demand than the quarter-to-quarter comparison. Dollar imports of $1.61 billion were 83% higher than in Q1 and up 11% from the 2019 quarter. The average Q2 monitor import was $140.84, down 24.9% sequentially from the previous quarter and 1.6% lower than a year earlier.
China regained its footing in Q2 as the world’s dominant monitor supplier after weeks of COVID-19 factory disruptions in February into March, DataWeb said. U.S. importers sourced 10.88 million monitors in Q2, surpassing the previous quarterly high of 10.63 million in 2019's Q3. Chinese shipments were up a staggering 158.4% from Q1 and increased 28% from the year-earlier second quarter.
Chinese imports were the source of 95.4% of all monitor shipments to the U.S. in Q2, rising 5.8 percentage points from Q1, when the supply chain was far from full tilt, DataWeb said. Q2 was on par with China’s 94.7% share in the 2019 quarter, clear evidence of the supply chain’s return to pre-COVID-19 levels. With China’s recovery came a significant increase in shipments of cheaper product. The average Chinese monitor in Q2 was $128.35, down 16% from the average in Q1 and 12.3% lower than a year earlier. It was the first time average quarterly HTS 8528.52.00 goods from China dipped below $130.
The commodity bug also bit Taiwanese monitor imports in Q2, DataWeb said. The average Taiwan monitor was valued at $192.42, about 50% more expensive than its Chinese counterpart but 34.5% lower than in Q1 and down 30.9% from a year earlier. Taiwan was the source of 1.9% of all Q2 monitor imports to the U.S., down from its 2.7% share in Q1, and about flat with its 1.8% standing in the 2019 quarter. U.S. importers sourced 214,100 monitors from Taiwan in the quarter, a 69.5% increase from Q1 and up 33.2% from a year earlier.