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NEMA Lamp Indices Show Growing Influence of LED

June 28, 2017
LEDs now have over 15% of the market for linear lamps and 32% of the A-line shipments.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, VA, put out its latest indices on lighting system shipments of various technologies and the overall effect is of watching LEDs take over the industry in one category after another.

NEMA’s broadest Lighting Systems Shipments Index showed a slight first-quarter increase of 1.4% versus 4Q 2016 but a decline of 3.4% compared with 1Q 2016. Emergency lighting, fixtures, and lighting controls posted quarter-over-quarter increases while the remaining components declined during the same period. Year-over-year comparisons saw the same components increase but their rise was offset by declines in HID ballasts, fluorescent ballasts, LED drivers, large lamps and LED replacement lamps.

NEMA expanded the way it reports its Lighting Systems Shipments Index, a measure of demand for lighting equipment. The index now includes domestically manufactured HID ballasts, LED drivers, lighting controls, and LED replacement lamps. The index already covered fixtures, emergency lighting, florescent ballasts, and large lamps. Miniature lamps, which had been included in the former index, are not included in this index. The base year for the new index is 2015.

Linear lamps: NEMA saw its linear florescent lamp index continue a downward trend, with T5, T8, and T12 lamps all posting a quarter-over-quarter decrease for 1Q 2017 compared to 4Q 2016 of 0.7%, 3.7% and 12.4%, respectively. The index for T8 lamps, which account for 62.4% of the consumer lamp market, decreased on a year-over-year basis by 17.4% in 1Q 2017 compared to 1Q 2016. T5 and T12 shipments dropped further, T5s by 26.6% and T12s by 19.4% respectively year-over-year.

NEMA/BIS has added T-LED shipments to the market penetration graph to begin tracking their impact on the market. When more historical data is available T-LED shipments will be added to the index. In 1Q 2017 T-LEDs accounted for 15.3% of the florescent lamp shipments.  T5 lamps claim a 9.2% share of the 1Q 2017 market and T12 lamps 13.1%.

High intensity discharge (HID): HID lamps posted a decline in shipments in 1Q 2017 compared to 1Q 2016 with sodium vapor falling 22.4%, metal halide down 19.6%, and sodium vapor down 19.2%. Quarter-over-quarter results were mixed with sodium vapor and mercury vapor posting increases of 8.1% and 9.0%, respectively, in 1Q 2017 compared to 4Q 2016 while metal halide posted a decline of 7.1% for the same period. Metal halide lamps accounted for 61.8% of the HID market in 1Q 2017, while sodium vapor and mercury vapor account for 34.2% and 3.9%, respectively.

A-line lamps: LED A-line lamp shipments decreased 8.1 percent in 1Q 2017 compared to 4Q 2016. However, LED A-line lamps continued a year-over-year climb increasing 4.7 percent compared to 1Q 2016. Incandescent and halogen shipments posted a quarter-to-quarter decrease in 1Q 2017 compared to 4Q 2016, 14.9 percent, and 24.8 percent respectively. CFL lamps posted a quarter-to-quarter increase of 18.5 percent. Incandescent, halogen, and CFL lamp shipments all decreased in a year-over-year comparison of 1Q 2017 to 1Q 2016 decreasing 5.7 percent, 12.4 percent, and 39.9 percent respectively.

Halogen A-line lamps account for 45.1% of the consumer lamp market, followed by LED A-line lamps at 32.0%, with CFLs and incandescent split the remainder with 13.3% and 9.6% shares respectively. Incandescent A-line lamps now largely consist of 15W and 25W lamps.