Solar Market Price Trends: Mainland China

Solarzoom Solar Market Report July 23-27, 2012

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Polysilicon

The price of polysilicon stabilized last week, due to the weak market. Currently, the quotes of domestic first level polysilicon companies stand at 160 Yuan/kg and 150 Yuan/kg for tier-two companies. Imported silicon material had a price of $20.90/kg for tier-one manufacturers, and $20.22/kg for tier-two. First Level includes China Silicon, Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE: DQ), GCL Poly.

Compared with the last week, the price of domestic silicon had no change, while that of imported silicon had a slight fall. The price of tier-one imported poly dropped 0.09% in a week, and the tier-two fell 0.08%. Some enterprises expanded their production to improve their price competitiveness, but more silicon makers chose to either cease production or overhaul their machines. Since China’s AD&CVD case against imported silicon materials hardly had any effect on the market, the market will remain sluggish in the short term. At present, the trade war in the solar industry has just begun, and the domestic market is already in a pessimistic state.

Wafer

This week, the price of silicon wafer had a further drop. Concerning mono-c-Si wafer 125mm*125mm, the price of tier-one suppliers stands at 6.10 Yuan/pc, and 5.50 Yuan/pc for tier-two. As to mono-cSi wafer 156mm*156mm，the price of tier-one suppliers arrived at 10.00 Yuan/pc, and 9.40 Yuan/pc for tier-two. And in terms of poly-cSi wafer 156mm*156mm, the price of tier-one supplier reached 7.7 Yuan/pc, and 7.3 Yuan/pc of tier-two.

In the last week of July, due to the sluggish market, the demand in the end PV market saw no improvement. At present, the demand for mono-c-Si wafer is quite small, and its price has been lower than the processing costs. The condition of poly-c-Si wafer is much better, but the payable cycle has been extended. Currently, the shipment in to the European market is disappointing, which make the over-capacity more serious. Presently, there are more and more shutdowns, and several manufacturers who are still in production are supported by power plant projects or some large-scale co-ops. Now, the price of wafer has been foced down to a very low level, and some manufacturers keep producing just to maintain their operation.  

Cell

In regards to mono-c-Si cell 125mm*125mm, the price of tier-one suppliers stands at 3.4 Yuan/W, and 3.00 Yuan /W for tier-two. For mono-c-Si cell 156mm*156mm，the price of tier-one suppliers is at 3.50 Yuan/W, and 3.10 Yuan/W for tier-two ones. And in terms of poly-c-Si cell 156mm*156mm, the price of tier-one suppliers reached 2.95 Yuan/W, and 2.75 Yuan/W for tier-two ones.

The price of solar cell keeps fluctuating. Since plenty of manufacturers are suffering from losses, the decline of prices has slowed down. Now, the whole market remains saturated, and most manufacturers have stopped half of their production capacity, while some of them have shut down entirely. Even those medium- and small-sized enterprises that were still in operation had scheduled a time for ceasing production, or at least planned to keep operating by reducing operating hours.

Module

With regards to mono-c-Si module 190W, the price of 1st-tier suppliers stands at 5.00 Yuan/W, and 4.60 Yuan/W for 2nd-tier ones. For the mono-c-Si crystalline module 245W, the price of 1st-tier suppliers is at 5.40 Yuan/W, and 5.05 Yuan/W for 2nd-tier ones. And in terms of poly-c-Si crystalline module 230W, the price of 1st-tier suppliers reaches 4.90 Yuan/W, and 4.50 Yuan/W of 2nd-tier ones. Concerning mono-c-Si module 250W, the price of 1^st-tier suppliers is 5.55 Yuan/W, and 5.1 Yuan/W for 2^nd-tier ones. When it comes to poly-c-Si module 240W, the price of 1^st-tier suppliers is 5 Yuan/W, and 4.8 Yuan/W for 2^nd-tier ones.

The price of domestic module remained steady, while the market remained saturated. Many companies didn’t raise inventories in European ports, with the exception of 1st-tier suppliers. Recently, a number of projects have started in Xinjiang and other Western regions, supporting volume for some small and medium-size firms. In addition, it appears that low-priced inquiries have been made in Europe. Manufacturers keep reducing their price to adapt to the market conditions, and considering the cost and profit margin, they are also using a lower quality of material to reduce costs.

Hot Subject

Recently, the price of domestic mono crystalline silicon dropped sharply, which is due to two main reasons. Firstly, the efficiency of poly-c-Si cell is currently increasing, and it could reach an average of 17.4%, and when it is made into modules, the module efficiency is only 5% lower than that of mono-c-Si. However, the price of poly-c-Si cell is 15% lower than mono-c-Si. Obviously, the performance-to-price ratio of poly-c-Si cell is much better. So most clients will choose poly-c-Si cells, which causes the demand for mono-c-Si cells to get sluggish, and as a result the price starts falling. On the other hand, the end PV market remains gloomy these days, and the whole market is shrinking. Considering the end of June was the deadline of the subsidy policy coming into force in some markets like Germany and Australia, who had large needs for mono crystalline silicon, the demand volume of mono crystalline silicon stabilized before the policy came into force. But, from the middle of June, the demands for modules in Europe and Australia decreased rapidly, and the trading volume of Chinese solar products in foreign countries kept dropping, especially in mono-c-Si modules.

In addition, although there is a certain demand for mono-c-Si modules in the Japanese market, which is becoming popular in recent days, this small volume of demand has difficulty supporting trading in the whole market, since it is really difficult for China-based solar firms to enter the Japanese market at the moment owing to the high requirement of entry. Generally, the present market is stagnating. Most enterprises are pessimistic, while paying close attention to the market tendencies.

With regard to the domestic market, the start of some power plant projects have somewhat increased the demand for poly-c-Si modules, while the mono crystalline market remains gloomy. Solarzoom learnt that the price of mono crystalline silicon began to decrease slightly from May, while in July it dropped rapidly due to the severe lack of demand. Moreover, most manufacturers are suffering from great pressure from financial problems. Some of them have to sell off their inventories to recoup the funds.

Tier-one companies include the U.S and HK stock market listed entities, with large capacity and product circulation in the market, like Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR)(NYSE:STP), Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd. (ADR)(NYSE: YGE), Canadian Solar Inc.(NASDAQ: CSIQ), Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) , JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR)(NASDAQ: JASO) and ReneSola Ltd. (ADR)(NYSE: SOL)

 

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