| Category | |
|---|---|
| Author | InfoLink |
| Updated | June 14, 2018 |
Poly
Due to the lower utilization rates of multi-Si wafers and high polysilicon stock of wafer companies, prices of polysilicon for multi-Si wafer use slightly declined to RMB 80-90/kg this week. Since the mono-Si wafer market still maintaining a relatively high utilization rates, prices of polysilicon for mono-Si wafer use declined slower than that for multi-Si wafer use, reaching RMB 100/kg.
Because many multi-Si wafer makers have suspended their productions, polysilicon prices plummeted in the overseas as well. Polysilicon this week is priced at US$ 11.5-13.3/kg, challenging overseas polysilicon makers’ bottom lines.
Wafer
Order status remained stable for mono-Si wafers before the 0630 installation boom ends, and therefore mono-Si wafer prices didn’t fluctuate significantly. Currently, top-tier mono-Si wafer makers still stick to the previous prices, leading to smaller price difference for mono-Si wafers compared to multi-Si. But because the price gap between mono and multi-Si wafers has increased to RMB 1.8/piece and US$ 0.24/piece, Longi has just lowered their quotes for mono-Si wafer(180μm). dropping from RMB 4.25/piece and US$ 0.58/piece to RMB 3.65/piece in China and US$ 0.495/piece in the overseas. A 14.1% dip, again narrowing the price gap between multi-Si and mono-Si wafers to RMB 1.2/piece and US$ 0.165/piece.
Although multi-Si wafer prices continued to decline this week, the decline of prices has shrunk compared to last week. The average trading price of multi-Si wafers reached RMB 2.4-2.5/piece in China. Despite fewer new order transaction, multi-Si wafer is priced at US$ 0.32-0.34/piece, down 13%, in the overseas market.
Since the price gap between mono and multi-Si wafers reached RMB 0.8-1/piece and US$ 0.1-0.13/piece, the gap allowed multi-Si products to show the higher cost effectiveness. In order to grab more market shares, mono-Si wafer makers are expecting to lower prices by more than 15%, and Longi just released their new price for mono-Si wafer as above mentioned.
Cell
The cell market saw similar price trend as wafer. Conventional mono and mono-Si PERC cells still have support before the 0630 installation boom ends. Aside from the price of Chinese mono-Si PERC cells that dropped to RMB 1.55/W, other prices didn’t fluctuate much. Orders for July have already been negotiated.
Multi-Si cell prices dropped following the weaker wafer prices. The average trading price of multi-Si cells reached RMB 1.05-1.1/W and US$ 0.146-0.15/W. Multi-Si cell makers that relied on Chinese orders will face tougher challenges as the amount of orders placed dropped substantially.
Module
Multi-Si module makers continued to sell modules at cheaper prices. Although most top-tier manufacturers wanted to keep prices at above RMB 2.2/W, taking into consideration the current cell prices, module makers with more pressures can also tolerate RMB 2.1-2.15/W. Therefore, multi-Si module prices may continue to reflect a downtrend in the short run.
Supported by the 0630 installation boom, mono-Si module prices didn’t fluctuate much in China this week. Yet, the US market with stock pressure from the previous have started to clear out stock, leading to lower module prices in the US market compared to other overseas markets.
The impact of the “notification” released by the NDRC, Ministry of Finance, and NEA on May 31st will continually reflect on the overseas markets. Module prices are expecting to drop starting from late-June.