* Sharp says can't resasonably estimate quake impact
* Q4 op profit falls 57.7 pct at Y12.4 bln (Recasts, adds more information)
By Taiga Uranaka
TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp said on Wednesday that it will not give a profit forecast for the business year that just started following last month's massive earthquake and tsunami.
A steep fall-off in consumption following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has hurt the firm, whose television business is focused on the domestic market, in a year that was already expected to bring a slide in TV sales.
"It is extremely difficult at this time to reasonably estimate the impact of the earthquake on our financial results, which will be broad across our entire business activities from production to sales," Sharp said in a statement.
The average estimate from analysts for the business year is for a 69 billion yen ($846 million) profit in a poll of 22 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
For the January-March quarter, the company's operating profit fell 57.7 percent to 12.4 billion yen ($152 million).
The maker of Aquos LCD TVs had benefited from increased sales in Japan in the past financial year for a wide-range of energy-efficient consumer electronics thanks to a Japanese government programme that ended in March.
Domestic television sales are also expected to slide after July, when Japan completes a switch to digital terrestrial broadcasting.
The firm, which competes with South Korea's Samsung Electronics and LG Display in LCD panels has suspended production at two Japanese LCD panel plants until early May as it confronts slumping domestic demand for televisions and shortages of a gas used in panel production. [ID:nL3E7FB012] ($1 = 81.515 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)