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| Author | InfoLink |
| Updated | July 14, 2021 |
Polysilicon
Long-term and sporadic orders started to be signed this week, after weeks of buyer-seller standoff. Long-term orders were mostly signed at RMB 205-215/kg, pretty much the same as last month, whilst sporadic orders began to see prices falling and can hardly be signed at RMB 220/kg as they were in June, indicating smaller price differences between long-term and sporadic orders.
As leading wafer manufacturers kept utilization rates low for the time being, more orders were signed at lower prices, as compared to last month, despite mainstream prices sustaining at previous levels.
Wafer
Recently, neither of the two leading wafer manufacturers have released new official pricings, allowing overall trading prices to stay where they were last week, whilst those of other wafer makers came in at around the same levels as Zhonghuan’s pricings. The market is still sitting on the fence to see if the downward trend will persist to the next round of pricing announcement.
From an end project demand perspective, multi-Si modules, with an unfavorable price–performance ratio, continued to see weak demand and less manufacturers this year. As markets started selling off in recent terms, prices fell incessantly, with mainstream prices came in at RMB 1.7-1.8/piece. In the beginning of the price decline, markets in China and abroad saw significant price differences. However, prices overseas plunged lately and approached to those in China, with mainstream prices sitting at USD 0.27-0.28/piece.
Cell
Cell prices were still declining this week amid stagnant demand in July, as the market expected prices to continue going down in the future. Trading activities at current prices grew slightly, as compared to last week, while amount purchased were not looking up markedly. M6 cells, with large production capacity, saw faster declines in prices, which averaged at RMB 0.97-0.98/W this week. Requests for orders for modules rated at 440-445 W increased, driving up sale volumes of medium and low efficiency M6 cells.
There is approximately RMB 0.02-0.03/W of differences between prices for medium and low efficiency cells and high efficiency cells. However, order volumes of high efficiency M6 cells showed no sign of increase.
Presently, major manufacturers’ prices for large format cells averaged at RMB 0.98-1/W. Prices for 182mm cells saw slower declines, thanks to the temporarily stabilized wafer prices. However, as the market wavered when approaching the month’s end, this week saw demand diminish and sale volumes decrease.
Multi-Si cell prices dropped to RMB 3.1-3.3/piece this week, as cell makers trimmed down prices for sales, and thus saw orders start being signed. In July, price fluctuations will gradually stall and go down in accordance with wafer price declines, amid unabating Covid-19 pandemic in India and lower utilization rates.
Module
Prices for some module orders in China slipped after wafer and cell price declines. Vertically integrated companies and Tier-2 manufactures saw distinctive price differences. Tier-1 vertically integrated companies’ orders saw little price movement, with most of which staying at the same prices, or some previously signed at higher levels saw marginal decreases; bulk orders for glass-backsheet modules were signed at RMB 1.77-1.79/W. Tier-2 manufacturers, on the other hand, started to see orders signed at RMB 1.7-1.75/W.
In overseas markets, module prices remain rather stable, with only few orders saw marginal fluctuations in accordance with exchange rates. However, module prices may not see marked declines, given polysilicon prices are expected to stabilize in recent terms and the coming installation rush in the fourth quarter of the year. Prices in overseas markets will stay at current levels within the short term.