MLCC Price Trend Analysis

MLCC Price Increase: Actually a Price Regression

Compared to the optimistic attitude of securities firms and the media, the MLCC market remains cautious.

The price changes of MLCCs in the most commonly used sizes, such as 0201, 0402, and 0603, provide a glimpse into the current market conditions.

Taking the example of the 0402 104k 16V specification, the market price for this type of MLCC has rebounded and is currently around 2.2 yuan, approaching the normal price range. This specification has experienced significant fluctuations in price with the cycles. In March 2020, it reached a peak of 7 yuan, then dropped, and experienced another increase in March 2021. Since July 2021, it has remained at a low price of around 2 yuan. It is known that Samsung, Yageo, Huaxin, and Fenghua are all manufacturers of this specification. Among them, Fenghua initially had a lower price position but increased by 20% after raising prices. Now it is comparable to other brands.

Regarding the 0201 and 0603 specifications, a friend who works in the MLCC division of Samsung Motor told us that the price for the 0201 225mq specification is about 15 yuan, and the price for the 0603 226mq 6.3V specification is 27.8 yuan. He mentioned that the prices are stable and there have been no significant fluctuations compared to before.

For the conventional MLCC of the 0603 size, a Q&A session on MLCC price increases in April showed that the price given by Samwha to distributors for the 0003106 series (possibly referring to the 0603 106k specification) was 13.3 yuan (tax included), while Samsung offered 15.5 yuan (tax included) to distributors. Samwha's price had increased by 5.5% at that time.

Overall, prices for certain MLCC models in various sizes have indeed increased. However, according to market sources, prices for most models have not changed significantly. Moreover, this price increase is based on the previous price inversion, so it would be more accurate to say that prices have "returned" rather than "increased" to their previous normal levels.

Looking back at this price inversion, starting from June 2021, the MLCC market, especially in the consumer segment, began to decline. The decline worsened in 2022, and consumer-grade MLCC prices almost across the board were inverted. It can be understood that in the market conditions for mid-to-low-end MLCCs, the purchase price for distributors was higher than the market price.

For distributors, selling at a loss while facing weak end-demand is challenging. Moreover, when prices are low, businesses are reluctant to purchase in larger quantities. Since the products are cheap, they prefer to buy when needed, hoping for even lower prices in the future. This has led to a difficult time for MLCC distributors last year.

Now, the price-inverted MLCC market has finally stopped declining and started to rise. However, there haven't been many positive developments on the demand side.

03 When Will the MLCC Market Recover?

Although manufacturers began reducing production from the second quarter of 2022, resulting in some slimming down of MLCC inventories, this supply-side adjustment has not had a significant impact on overall demand.

With deteriorating demand and declining capacity utilization in the MLCC and other industries, major manufacturers' revenue growth has slowed down significantly, and they have substantially lowered their financial forecasts for 2022.

Source: iJiaWei

In the first quarter of 2023, Samsung Electro-Mechanics reported