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LED Fuels Optimism for the Lighting Market in 2017: The Autumn 2016 Hong Kong Lighting Fair Survey
21 November 2016
The lighting industry appears to be optimistic about their trade prospects for 2017, despite uninspiring sales performances over the past year. The markets it regards as having the greatest potential for next year are the traditional strongholds of North America and Western Europe, followed by the Chinese mainland. The product category regarded as offering the highest growth potential over the year to come is LED / green lighting. Smart lighting systems, meanwhile, continue to be viewed as the focus of the industry's future development.
These opinions were expressed by attendees of the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair, held in October 2016. HKTDC Research polled 393 buyers and 261 exhibitors at the Fair, in an attempt to collate insider views on the market prospects and business trends for the lighting industry.
Lighting Market for 2017: A Sense of Optimism
At the October Fair, 43% of surveyed buyers and 66% of the surveyed exhibitors expressed the view that their sales during 2017 would show an increase on those of 2016. This percentage indicates a greater sense of optimism than that expressed by surveyed respondents at last Lighting Fair, held in April 2016. On that occasion, the same question drew a lower percentage of positive respondents. Additionally, the share of respondents expecting a decline of sales next year has now decreased, currently accounting for only 10% of the buyers and 6% of the exhibitors canvassed. On the whole, industry players are quite positive about the market prospects for 2017, notwithstanding uninspiring sales performances this year.
In terms of the prospects of individual markets, the traditional markets of North America and Western Europe were seen as those with the highest potential for growth in 2017, scoring 3.65 each. These scores are slightly higher than those for the Chinese mainland, which achieved 3.63. Following on from these were Australia and the Pacific Islands, ASEAN, Korea, Japan and Latin America. In fact, every market scored higher than the neutral level of 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5), revealing that the industry is generally optimistic towards the various markets.
LED Lighting Trend: Confirmed
Overwhelmingly, LED / green lighting was chosen by most industry players as the product category with the highest growth potential in 2017, as indicated by 40% of the respondents in the October survey. The application areas of LED with the highest growth potential were seen as indoor household lighting (32% of respondents), smart lighting systems (21%), and indoor office and commercial lighting (14%).
Respondents chose commercial lighting (15%) and household lighting products (14%) as the highest growth items for the next year. Smart lighting solution was selected as the product category with the highest potential for next year by 10% of respondents. This is similar to the proportion of respondents who indicated the same belief in the April survey. A further 10% of the respondents named outdoor lighting as the product with highest growth potential in 2017, up from 6% of respondents who indicated the same at the April Fair.
Smart Lighting Remains the Focus for Future Development
As regards future development, the majority of the respondents (84%) indicated that smart technology will drive the evolution of the lighting industry over the next two years. The most important development areas for smart lighting include household lighting systems compatible with and/or controllable by smart phone/tablet applications (as chosen by 48% of respondents). Another area highlighted was smart lighting systems for household/industrial/commercial buildings, primarily with an energy-saving intent (chosen by 41% of respondents).
Profile of Respondents
393 buyers were canvassed, of which 27% were based in Hong Kong and the remainder based overseas. Their major selling/export markets were Western Europe (23%), North America (20%) and the Chinese mainland (18%).
Of the 261 surveyed exhibitors, 30% were based in Hong Kong and the rest based overseas. Their major selling/export markets were Western Europe (37%), North America (33%) and Asia beyond the Chinese mainland (11%).
- Electronics & Electrical Appliances
- Technology
- Household Products
- Hong Kong
- Hong Kong