Solar manufacturers to reduce production in response to low market visibility

TAIWAN: Due to low market visibility, the average price of solar cell has been closed to $1.0/Watt. If the market demand does not recover, the cell price might probably go down below $1.0/Watt.

This price trend is as the same as EnergyTrend’s estimation- the solar cell price will decrease to $1.0/Watt in the short term. On the other hand, currently, the Si-wafer price has fallen below $3/Piece, and the module price has dropped to $1.5/Watt as well. EnergyTrend believes that manufacturers will have a loss, except for polysillion and system manufacturers.

According to latest survey, the price of polysilicon has decreased by 2.62 percent to 73.275/kg. Compared with other products, there is a slight decrease in the polysilicon price. Moreover, due to increasing Si-wafer price pressure, the average price has shown an obvious decrease. Therefore, the average price of multi-Si wafer has fallen by 4.78 percent, to $2.971/piece, and that of mono-Si wafer has dropped by 2.35 percent, to $3.321/piece.Source: EnergyTrend, Taiwam.

Furthermore, the solar cell spot price has reached $0.9/Watt at the lowest, and the average price has declined by 5.66%, to $1.034/Watt. Due to unpromising outlook in the second quarter of the year, EnergyTrend believes that manufacturers will face much serious challenges in this quarter. Besides, due to weak demand in the module market, the module price has come to $1.4/Watt at the lowest, and average price has decreased by 1.52 percent, to $1.489/Watt. Also, the average price of thin film has fallen by 0.93 percent, to $1.169/Watt.

According to EnergyTrend’s observation, since market status has consistently lowered and the demand has not recovered, manufacturers take a conservative attitude toward the future development and there is a sharp decrease in market prospects.

Manufacturers have reduced production in response to current market status at this stage, and utilization rate only stays at around 80 percent. In terms of future development, manufacturers indicated that after Si-wafer manufacturers consistently lowered their price, only polysilicon manufacturers still got a profit in the solar cell supply chain.

Therefore, the second quarter of the year will a critical time for polysilicon price change. If market status has not shown a recovery, the polysilicon manufacturers will face a great price pressure, and polysilicon price might show an obvious change.