Multi wafer prices to increase with a higher concentration in supplies

Poly Price

This week, polysilicon were sold in small quantities in China, leading to limited price movement. Price of mono wafer use polysilicon slightly increased, but many buyers projected a lower polysilicon price after the Lunar New Year, with limited price increase. Price of multi wafer use polysilicon remained flat at last week’s price. Some multi wafer manufacturers will still lower utilization rates during the Lunar New Year, affecting polysilicon demand. 

Overall, the polysilicon market will still witness weak demand after the Lunar New Year. However, top-tier Chinese polysilicon makers have good control over the orders for February, and thus the range of price drop after the Lunar New Year is likely to be smaller than anticipation. On the other hand, overseas polysilicon prices slightly increased. The transaction of mono wafer use polysilicon represented a large proportion, but multi wafer use polysilicon remained less trading volume. 
 

Wafer Price

Wafer prices have started to rise in China. Top-tier manufacturers continued to increase prices. However, the price rise was slower for second-tier manufacturers as they were mostly still processing orders of late-2018 or they didn’t have enough stock on hand to supply. 

Judging from the orders transacted and price negotiation for February, multi wafer prices will certainly go up. This week, the multi wafer market saw larger price gap, with the highest price reaching RMB 2.14/piece and the average price rising to RMB 2.08/piece. Due to the tight supply and currency factor, the average trading price of multi wafers has increased to US$ 0.28/piece for February in the overseas. 

For mono wafers, Longi will announce the price for February this week, and thus mono wafer prices are expecting to stay flat. 
 

Cell Price

Cell makers are still negotiating prices for next month, leading to limited price movement. But due to the stock preparation before the Lunar New Year and the slightly lower multi utilization rate during the Lunar New Year, the multi cell market witnessed temporary short supply. Following the higher wafer prices, the quote in multi cell prices have slightly increased too, reaching RMB 0.89-0.9/W. Yet, the actual trading price for February will depend on the future PV market momentum. 

For mono PERC, despite the tight supply, the profit of PERC cell is maintained at a high level. Therefore, the quote in China hasn’t changed, but the overseas prices slightly increased owing to the rapid fluctuation in currencies. 
 

Module Price

Due to the strategies deployed in the overseas markets ahead of time, top-tier vertically-integrated manufacturers saw good order visibility for Q1. Prices were mostly maintained at a high level. However, second-tier module makers witnessed lower order visibility than top-tier makers, leading to reduced prices. 

It appears that the global demand is expecting to be better than expected in Q1, of which, the order visibility will be higher for mono PERC modules. Top-tier vertically-integrated manufacturers are almost running at full capacities for mono PERC modules, leading to tight supply. With the rapid fluctuation of currencies, mono PERC module prices will slightly rise in the overseas. 305W PERC module is now priced at US$ 0.27-0.28/W in the overseas.