PVinsights: China Polysilicon starts dropping clearly in late August

Polysilicon prices falter this week as wafer makers could not bear with such high priced polysilicon amid the slumping downstream prices and demand. Chinese polysilicon suppliers have lowered the price quotes obviously this week, due to the tremendous pressure. As the demand and prices of wafer remain subdued, many wafer makers have threaten to curtail production rates that forces polysilicon suppliers in China accommodate with the price reductions. Moreover, such price correction is partially attributed to the low polysilicon prices offered by some European suppliers and the looming pressures of the closure of the accounting process of financial quarter 3Q16. Meanwhile, the scopes of the price change in overseas market are less than in China. As the result, overall polysilicon prices are mainly dragged down by the noticeable polysilicon price correction in China.


Polysilicon prices falter this week as wafer makers could not bear with such high priced polysilicon amid the slumping downstream prices and demand. Chinese polysilicon suppliers have lowered the price quotes obviously this week, due to the tremendous pressure. As the demand and prices of wafer remain subdued, many wafer makers have threaten to curtail production rates that forces polysilicon suppliers in China accommodate with the price reductions. Moreover, such price correction is partially attributed to the low polysilicon prices offered by some European suppliers and the looming pressures of the closure of the accounting process of financial quarter 3Q16. Meanwhile, the scopes of the price change in overseas market are less than in China. As the result, overall polysilicon prices are mainly dragged down by the noticeable polysilicon price correction in China.

The price drop of multi-crystalline wafer exceeds over 3 percent this week. Since most multi-crystalline wafer makers remain at high utilization rates, the lower production costs could still retain margins for these multi-crystalline wafer makers and give them the flexibility to release more price discounts. Nevertheless, the attitude of buyers is still conservative amid mounting speculation of accelerating slump of multi-crystalline wafer prices. Buyers tend to place orders until they see the actual demand, which makes the order visibility extremely low that pressures multi-crystalline wafer makers to offer the further price reductions in order to secure orders. Similarly, mono-crystalline wafer also declines accordingly this week as the Top mono-crystalline wafer makers strategically align the price difference with multi-ones on primary prevention of demand shift.

Multi-crystalline cell price drops further as weakening buyer sentiments sap demand and oversupply intensifies the competition. As most solar cell makers have lowered utilization rates slightly in August, the ample stockpiles and the overshadowed order visibility continue to pressure on multi-crystalline prices. Moreover, with the accelerating drop of multi-crystalline wafer prices, solar cell makers still have rooms to adjust down the prices accordingly. In fact, solar cell makers who rely heavily on outsourcing orders have suffered the most since integrated module makers prioritize to fulfill their in-house cell capacities and slash OEM procurement sharply. Such circumstances have lead the competition among suppliers escalates in order to win the limited orders. On the other hand, the price of mono-crystalline cell currently is moving along with multi-crystalline cell. As the result, the drop of both multi-crystalline and mono-crystalline prices has seen no signs of alleviation yet.

Lasting oversupply continues to weigh on solar panel prices this week. In China, the auctions continue to have new bottom lines and show how intense the competition is for Chinese module makers to win the limited orders. Such competition has replicated in other major solar markets, in particularly in EU, the US, and Japan, regions with higher price premiums, as major Chinese module makers shift their battlefield more towards these regions, since these regions have more rooms for the price reductions. As the result, the price turbulence of solar panel globally continues to persist as Chinese module makers keep dumping excess inventories in major solar markets.

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