PVinsights : Dramatic price cuts on polysilicon in June
Post Date: 21 Jun 2014 Viewed: 515
Overall module price remains on the price downtrend this week. Slow system deployment in China and the approaching quarter-end adds price cut pressure on Chinese module makers. Many Chinese branding module price drops to below $0.60/kWh in China and Japan since project developers in Japan also push down module pricing after its FIT cut in Apr. In addition, the preliminary ruling of the US countervailing case against Chinese modules adds further price cut pressure as the countervailing rates are fairly high ranging from 18~35%. Therefore, overall module price remains on the decline this week.
Solar cell price drops more dramatically this week. Weak downstream demand in China has already pushed down Chinese cell price. Taiwanese cell price also starts to drop as the US antidumping ruling announcement comes closer. With the fairly high US preliminary countervailing rates against Chinese modules, uncertainty to Taiwanese cell demand and the ruling of the antidumping case increase. Along with low pricing wafers from China, Taiwanese cell price is adjusting downward by 1-2 cents USD/watt. Therefore, overall cell price drops more dramatically this week as price gap between Taiwanese and Chinese cell narrows.
Multi wafer price also drops dramatically this week. Weak Chinese cell demand and pricing add increasing price cut pressure on Chinese wafers. In addition, wafer inventory is accumulating in the supply chain with high wafer company utilization and weak cell company procurement. With the US preliminary ruling announcement, Chinese wafer demand and pricing encounter further price cut pressure. On the other hand, as Chinese wafer companies sell low pricing wafers in Taiwan, Taiwanese wafer companies face increasing price cut pressure. Taiwanese cell companies also request lower wafer pricing due to cell pricing downtrend. Therefore, multi wafer price drops more dramatically this week. Mono wafer price also drops this week due to weaker demand. Along with pricing downtrend in the supply chain, mono wafer price is negatively impacted.
Polysilicon price also drops more dramatically this week. As wafer pricing drops consecutively, price cut pressure for polysilicon increases. Some major polysilicon makers lower contract pricing to reflect pricing downtrend in the solar supply chain impacting spot polysilicon prices. Therefore, overall polysilicon price drop more dramatically this week.