Chinese mainland TV manufacturers are expected to purchase 30 million flat screens worth 5.5 billion U.S. dollars from Taiwan this year, a mainland industrial heavyweight said in Taipei Wednesday.

The TV companies will buy more large-sized screens this year, said Bai Weimin, vice president of the China Video Industry Association (CVIA), who led a delegation of senior managers from eight leading mainland TV producers to visit Taiwan.

The eight companies include Hisense, Haier, Skyworth, TCL, Changhong, Konka, Prima and Panda.This is the third consecutive year that mainland TV manufacturers have come to the island to purchase flat screens.Last year they bought 4.3 billion U.S. dollars worth of flat screens from Taiwan.

Over the past two years, the purchase volume has increased notably and high-end products have taken up a larger part of the deals, Bai said at a forum co-hosted by the CVIA and Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC).

In 2009, the average size of flat screens bought by mainland firms was 30.3 inches and it increased to 33.6 inches in 2010. This year it is likely to reach 39.5 inches, she said. Large-sized LED screens and 3D screens have taken up almost half of the deals.

Chih-kang Wang, TWTC chairman, told the forum that buying flat screens from Taiwan helped mainland TV producers avoid being overly reliant on Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Last year about 36 million sets of flat screen TVs were sold in the mainland market and this year the figure is likely to reach 40 million.

Mainland companies are willing to work with Taiwan firms in developing the high-quality screens, chips, software and applications used for intelligent TVs.