PVinsights: Mono Cell and Wafer Price Correction Weighs on Sentiment

Polysilicon prices slipped amid the faltering demand, as the procurement of polysilicon buyers has been slowing down. Moreover, as Chinese polysilicon suppliers currently operate in full production, there has been a growing concern among the supply glut in July. The pessimistic sentiment reflected on the drop of polysilicon prices in China, as Chinese polysilicon suppliers stepped back to comply with price discounts. In overseas market, as the productivity of downstream wafer suppliers was restrained and showed no sign of recovery, major suppliers shifted more of their products to China to prevent worsening glut in overseas markets. However, such attempts did not ease the pressure of downward price trend as the prices in overseas extended the drop this week.

Polysilicon prices slipped amid the faltering demand, as the procurement of polysilicon buyers has been slowing down. Moreover, as Chinese polysilicon suppliers currently operate in full production, there has been a growing concern among the supply glut in July. The pessimistic sentiment reflected on the drop of polysilicon prices in China, as Chinese polysilicon suppliers stepped back to comply with price discounts. In overseas market, as the productivity of downstream wafer suppliers was restrained and showed no sign of recovery, major suppliers shifted more of their products to China to prevent worsening glut in overseas markets. However, such attempts did not ease the pressure of downward price trend as the prices in overseas extended the drop this week.


Multi-crystalline wafer prices stayed unchanged this week. Since 1st tier Chinese multi-wafer suppliers intend to hold their product prices steady, the 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers were also planning to follow in their footsteps. In terms of overseas markets, the suppliers prefer to sell bricks instead of wafer due to their higher wafering costs that leads the supplies of multi-crystalline wafers to remain relatively tight. However, the demand concerns on new Fit introduced after June 30th have started taking some heat out of multi-crystalline wafer. On the other hand, mono-crystalline wafer prices edged lower this week as Chinese leading mono-crystalline players reduced price quotes, which have forced other suppliers to follow suit. Furthermore, the waning interest of procurements for mono-crystalline products, particularly mono-PERC cells, compounded with ease of supplies, are set to deteriorate mono-crystalline wafer prices further.

Multi-crystalline cell prices remained steady for the second straight week. As both multi-crystalline wafer prices and order status for multi-crystalline cells remained steady, the prices were able to sustain at current level despite the slide of mono-crystalline cell prices. Mono-crystalline cell prices dropped this week mainly resulted from the dumping activities led by the top mono-crystalline module players to adjust their inventory level. Moreover, the ending phase of China installation rush has also lowered the mono-cell demand, particularly for mono-PERC. In order to keep mono-crystalline product demand, this sharp price correction for mono-crystalline cell is initiated by major buyer to prevent from the worsening glut by mono demand shifting to poly demand.

Solar panel prices fell this week on weaker demand and the strengthening USD. With the approaching installation deadline, the Chinese suppliers found it hard to secure the prices at current level due to the declining demand. Furthermore, USD has strengthened against RMB this week, which resulted drops of module prices in the USD term in China. In overseas markets, solar panel prices in India continued to suffer from aggressive pricing as Chinese mono-crystalline module suppliers were dumping products with much lower prices and therefore triggered severe modification. The price reduction was especially pronounced for mono-crystalline modules, helped by the lowering upstream component prices.

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