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| Author | InfoLink |
| Updated | December 28, 2017 |
Leading mono-Si wafer maker Longi and multi-Si wafer maker GCL released the latest price quotes this week: the average trading price of mono-Si wafers dropped from RMB 5.75/piece to RMB 5.55/piece for 190μm and declined from RMB 5.6/piece to RMB 5.4/piece for 180μm. 180μm mono-Si wafer prices dropped from US$ 0.75/piece to US$ 0.725/piece in the overseas. The price of GCL’s DW multi-Si wafers dropped from RMB 4.7-4.75/piece to RMB 4.6-4.65/piece in China and reached US$ 0.64/piece in the overseas.
Poly
Following the equipment maintenance of the largest Chinese polysilicon maker and lower-than-expected production resume for some top-tier makers, the supply shortage of polysilicon wasn’t alleviated due to the decline of mono & multi-Si wafer prices. Overseas polysilicon saw higher prices instead. The average trading price of polysilicon increased from RMB 150-156/kg to RMB 152-157/kg. Polysilicon is priced at more than US$ 14.4/kg in the overseas too and will continue to reflect an uptrend.
Wafer
Before Longi released the latest price quotes, mid-to-small scale mono-Si wafers have started to lower prices starting from December due to the inventory pressures they face for the end of this year. Wafer prices dropped to RMB 5.2-5.3/piece (US$ 0.72-0.74/piece) for mid-to-small scale mono-Si wafer makers last week. This week, the spot price reached US$ 0.7/piece. Therefore, how Longi lowered its products by RMB 0.2/piece (US$ 0.025/piece) is in the market’s anticipation.
GCL chose to reduce prices when demand of DW multi-Si wafers remained strong; this was something that the industry didn’t expect. After GCL released the latest prices, other manufacturers have followed suit to maintain their cost effectiveness advantages. Overall, DW multi-Si wafer is priced at RMB 4.55-4.7/piece in China and US$ 0.64 in the overseas. The market share of slurry wafers dropped rapidly. Only a small amount of slurry orders are in negotiation, no longer in the mainstream market.
Cell
Following the significant decline of conventional mono-Si and mono-Si PERC cells, the growth momentum has slightly increased for mono-Si products. But due to the substantial decline of mono-Si wafer prices, the conventional mono-Si and PERC cell market still saw chaotic pricing this week. The price trend won’t be clear until next week.
Multi-Si cell demand remained strong, but cell prices have lowered slightly owing to the price adjustment of DW wafers. Currently, DW cell is the mainstream product, with the price reaching RMB 1.68-1.7/W in China and US$ 0.215-0.219/W in the overseas.
Module
With the release of the 2018 FiT last week, module prices are likely to be affected in China. Although conventional mono and multi-Si module prices stayed stable at RMB 2.7-2.75/W this week, prices may drop further. The PERC module market saw chaotic pricing due to the low transaction.