Slow down in growth on fourth quarter of 2008 and moderate growth forecast for 2009. - The consumer electronics sector is bracing itself for a poor fourth quarter and this despite the end of year festivities when sales are usually high. DisplaySearch, a leading American provider of information, consulting and conferences on the display supply chain and display-related industries, forecasts a significant slowdown in worldwide sales of television sets, the main indicator of the state of health of consumer electronics. In the third quarter, sales were up 6% year on year (+11% on the second quarter) with 53.5 million units sold. This strong growth came from shipments made to retailers prior to the significant weakening of demand which is likely to affect the fourth quarter. Among the countries which have seen growth from a year ago, China, with +15%, had the largest gain. Compared with the previous quarter, growth rose by 21%, with a record 12 million units sold. North America also saw stronger than expected growth, up 12% year on year (10 million units sold). Overall, world spending on technological consumer goods should experience moderate growth in 2009, marketing company GfK and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have announced. Spending is expected to be of the order of $42 billion next year, an annual rise of just over 6%, following a 9.4% increase in 2008 due to strong demand in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). North America and Western Europe, however, experienced a net fall. Similar noises are coming from market analysts iSuppli which has trimmed its forecasts for LCD TV sales for 2008 to 93.4 million units, a reduction of 6% on its previous forecast. iSuppli has also reduced its forecasts for 2009 from 124 million to 112.6 million units sold. “The economic downturn in the United States and Europe has had a knock-on effect on global economies, spurring a slowdown in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, an increase in inflation and a deceleration in consumer spending around the world,” said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, television systems, for iSuppli. (I.L./transl.rt)