LED market share in Thailand to reach 70% by 2020

LED lighting technology has improved so much that the initial worry of low power factor and that brands incompatibility issues 'would' have been taken cared of by now.

The fact that many countries have adopted the use of LED lightings for illuminating public places as well as privately owned properties, means that this type of lighting has good acceptance from the masses. This should be good enough reason for LED-base lighting  prices to have gone down drastically sooner than later.

Malaysian companies took part at the LED Expo Thailand in Bangkok -Photo: Facebook/LED Expo Thailand.

Malaysia's MATRADE said that the LED lighting penetration rate in the Thailand market has reached an estimated 10 % to 15%, whereas in Malaysia very little can be said about adoption of this energy efficient lighting.

I am now wondering if Malaysia's LED streetlights by 2014 pledge was a genuine goal or just a statement of intent. Has any action been taken on the plan 'to roll out the budget on the installation of LED lights nationwide?' 

As reported by Bernama here, it seems that we have to venture abroad to market our LED products.

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Malaysian firms rake in RM37.1mil sales at Bangkok LED Expo

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian light-emitting diode (LED) products and solutions raked in sales of RM37.1 million from Thai buyers at the LED Expo Thailand 2015.

A Specialised Marketing Mission (SMM) spearheaded by MATRADE was in Bangkok for three days from May 20 in conjunction with the expo.

Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Bangkok Trade Commissioner Niqman Rafaee Mohd Sahar said the LED lighting penetration rate in the Thailand market has reached an estimated 10 to 15 percent.

"The LED market share for Thailand is expected to reach 70 per cent by 2020," he said in a statement issued here today.

Thirteen Malaysian companies participated in the SMM, while seven other Malaysian firms took part as individual exhibitors at the expo, where 208 business meetings arranged for Malaysian companies with Thai government officials, traders, distributors, manufacturers and top retailers.

- Source: Bernama | June 6, 2015

Switch to LED lamps, save 90% of energy...

Ok, 90% may look a lot and you thought that 'it's too good to be true'.

While you can't be blamed for thinking it's a total bull*, there is truth to it. A 100W incandescent lamp can be replaced by a 20W compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) of an equal luminosity. Today's technology can offer a LED lamp equivalent of 10W to 12W power consumption.

So, comparing to incandescent lamps, switching to LED saves you about 88% to 90%.



However, most of us are no longer using 'traditional' incandescence lamps nowadays, hence, that 90% efficiency claim is not attractive to us anymore. The reference now for efficiency gain is the CFL, which is a big improvement from the energy guzzling filament lamps. Still, LED is the way forward.

In 2012 the Ministry of Green Technology and Water announced that to government is phasing out traditional light bulbs (incandescent bulbs), which would eventually lead to a complete ban in 2014.

I don't know if everyone has thrown theirs in favour of LED lamps yet but for me the announcement was a 'hasty' one.


Should we change to LED light bulbs now?

Ideally yes. But there is issue with this type of lighting, apart from the PF issue (though it may not be anymore), the manufacturing of LED lamps is highly unregulated unlike the conventional ones. The LED component itself may last 10 years, perhaps 15 or 20 years, but the driver unit's lifespan varies and is significantly shorter.

Due to the unregulated (not standard) construction of drivers, one that's fabricated by Osram for instance, would not fit one that's fabricated by Phillips.

What this means is that, you end up buying the whole set of lamp instead of just replacing the faulty parts - which is an expensive exercise. You will then be stuck with one brand, without having the flexibility of switching between Philips, GE, Panasonocs, Osram, etc. Moreover, LED lamps are still very expensive and you don't want to replace them after just 2 to 3 years due to faulty drivers.

Doesn't this remind you of the convenience - you currently enjoy - of replacing your 36W fluorescent tube with a brand of your choice?


The Green Mechanics: Prices of LED lamps are dropping but not appealing enough for me. I'm currently more inclined towards replacing mine with the CFLs. I use them a lot - 20W, 23W and 25W - equivalent to traditional bulbs of 100W, 125W and 150W respectively.

LED the most promising technology - SME Corp

"Most promising technology.... demand to grow 34% by 2020"

This is what SME Corp Malaysia said during the recent Light+Building Show, the world's biggest event for lighting and building-related services technology, in Frankfurt .


LED lamps can be designed into many different attractive shapes and sizes


It's about time entrepreneurs put more effort in innovation, to promote more applications of LED and solid state lighting (SSL) in industry and commercial sectors as well as home use.

Also, we must find ways to make LED lighting more affordable. For example, for an approximately equivalent lumen, a 60W incandescent bulb would cost just RM2.00, a CFL would cost RM18.00 while a 8W - 10W LED bulb would cost around RM36.00

While LED lamps would save a lot of energy (and money) throught their significantly longer life, many people are not ready yet to pay upfront for energy saving lighting.

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For future reference, I'll share an excerpt of what was reported by Bernama during the Frankfurt Show in Germany:-

The Malaysian Government has identified light emitting diodes (LED) as the most promising technology in terms of commercial viability from among several kinds of clean technology such as photovoltaic solar power, wind power and electric vehicles.

Keeping in view this growth potential, the government was supporting LED and solid state lighting (SSL) companies and also helping them penetrate the global markets, thereby ensuring that the Malaysian LED industry grows in tandem with the world demand.

The demand is expected to grow by 34 per cent by the year 2020. Malaysia is considered to be one of Asia's leading LED manufacturing nations.

In an interview with Bernama on the opening day of the Frankfurt Show, Datuk Hafsah Hashim, the Chief Executive Officer of SME Corp Malaysia, said SME Corp was an Entry Point Project under the electronics/electrical part of the National Key Economic Area (NKEA), with emphasis on the LED/SSL segment.

"The LED/SSL segment has been posting double-digit growth though the quantity exported by Malaysia is still small. LED/SSL technology is the most efficient energy form to bring down the carbon dioxide component. The LED is widely used today."
- Datuk Hafsah Hashim, CEO of SME Corp Malaysia

The SME Corp sees "great potential" for LED products in the emerging markets, including China, India, Africa and the Middle East.

The SME Corp's networking event was attended by designers, architects, distributors and retailers.

Garreth Jones, Managing Director of the UK-based LUX-TSI, provided signposts at the networking event on how to establish and implement proper testing processes for safety and performance of LED lighting products for the European markets.

Though Malaysia's LED exports presently may be small, many German trade visitors at the Light+Building Show were confident that the exports would grow in future.

LED exports appear in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry statistics under the broad product grouping electrical and electronic products.