Sales from China’s polysilicon industry rose 145 percent in the first half from a year earlier to 9.58 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), Xinhua News Agency reported.

Suppliers of the raw material for solar cells had a profit of 600 million yuan, Xinhua said, citing Zhao Jiasheng, vice chairman of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.

Domestic polysilicon output doubled to 62,000 metric tons from a year ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said last month.