Price Trend: PV Cell and Module Prices Become the Key to Supply and Demand amid Policy Uncertainties
There have been a number of policy announcements in the market this week, all of which could affect trading conditions. These include the postponement of the safeguard duty hearing in India, the end of EU’s MIP on September 3, the inclusion of solar products in the second wave of Section 301 and the beginning of discussions by China’s National Energy Administration on policies for unsubsidized power stations. Overall, upstream polysilicon price has remained flat, with some increases. For si-wafer, production reduction was conducted to cope with the weak demand. PV cell and module prices were reduced to different levels due to product type. This week’s price and volume remained broadly stable. The key is whether the supply and demand sides can agree on the price.
Polysilicon
Although China’s domestic polysilicon market basically became stable this week, there was an unstable atmosphere because some manufacturers didn’t sign the orders of September. In September, there will still be enterprises conducting routine maintenance, intending to sign orders after the market becomes stable. On the other hand, some individual manufacturers in August conducted maintenance due to emergencies. Late orders for August will have to be issued in September.
In September, four new enterprises will undergo maintenance, while four of the enterprises currently undergoing maintenance are recovering production, so it is expected that the domestic production in September will be about the same as in August, and that the market operation would maintain a relatively stable trend. So far, China’s domestic multi-si material price has remained at RMB83-92/KG, with a slight increase for the highest price. Mono-si material price has remained at RMB90-98/KG. Overseas multi-si material price has been maintained at US$10.3-13.5/KG.
Si-wafer
Due to weaker end demand for multi-si, major multi-si wafer manufacturers have begun to feel the pressure of inventory this week, and prices have significantly become unstable. The supply side began to consider reducing production to deal with the situation. The supply of mono-si waferwas still under control, but lowering capacity utilization next month was also considered. So far, mono-si wafer price has remained at RMB3.05-3.26/Pc. The reasonable transaction price of multi-si has been RMB2.28-2.35/Pc. Black silicon product price has decreased to RMB2.60/Pc. The price of mono-si wafer in overseas market has remained at US$0.400-0.425/Pc, while multi-si price has declined to US$0.304-0.320/Pc. Black silicon product price has been lowered to US$0.360/Pc.
PV cell
This week, the price of PV cell continued to decline, especially high-efficiency mono-si, both for the domestic and overseas markets. A new round of price competition is expected after the end of the MIP in September. Because the PV cells made in China can also be supplied to the European market, it will cause more pressure on Taiwanese manufacturers. In addition, uncertainty factors continued to increase during the safeguard duty hearing in India, which was postponed to September 19.
Mono-si PERC PV cell price has been reduced. So far, China’s domestic general mono-si price has reached RMB1.02-1.10/W. High-efficiency mono-si price has been RMB1.08-1.21/W. General multi-si PV cell price has reached RMB0.93-0.97/W. Overseas general mono-si price has been US$0.124-0.140/W, and high-efficiency mono-si price has decreased to US$0.161-0.165/W, with the average price of US$0.163/W. Multi-si PV cell price has remained at US$0.118-0.155/W, with the average price of US$0.121/W.
Module
This week, the module market in China was steady. The capacity utilization of many manufacturers was high, but the demand hasn’t reached the highest point. So far, general multi-si (270-275W) price has remained at RMB1.85-1.93/W, and high-efficiency multi-si (280-285W) price has been RMB1.80-2.00/W. Prices of general mono-si (290-295W) and high-efficiency mono-si (300-305W) were RMB1.90-2.20/W and RMB2.10-2.25/W.
For overseas market, prices decreased slightly. General multi-si price has been US$0.228-0.285/W, with the average price of US$0.265/W. High-efficiency multi-si price has been US$0.245-0.285/W, with the average price of US$0.273/W. The prices of general mono-si and high-efficiency mono-si were US$0.249-0.400/W and US$0.276-0.415/W, while the average price of high-efficiency mono-si module dropped to US$0.300/W.
Source: pv.energytrend
