HID Lamp Shipment Indexes Continue to Drop

NEMA’s shipment indexes for high intensity discharge (HID) lamps declined on a year-over-year basis for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q1 2013. Shipments of sodium vapor lamps decreased 14.1% to an index reading of 71.2 during the quarter. Mercury vapor lamp shipments were down a similar magnitude at 13% to 44.2, the third lowest level in the index series. Metal halide lamp shipments fell too, posting an index value of 77.5, a decrease of 9.5%.       

Market shares of the three lamp types varied less than 0.5% compared to the previous quarter. Sodium vapor lamps gave back 0.4% securing a share of 31.9%. Meanwhile, the shares held by mercury vapor and metal halide lamps increased marginally to 4.5% and 63.6%, respectively.