Benefiting from the rush orders from clients in Europe and the United States, Taiwanese solar cell makers’ utilization rates increased evidently, which will affect the future development of contract and spot prices. According to TrendForce, EnergyTrend’s survey, the contract price of polysilicon is still in negotiation as the buyers and suppliers are yet to reach a consensus. On the other hand, due to the utilization rate surge of solar cell makers propelled by rush orders, polysilicon suppliers took this opportunity to jack up the contract price, which affected the spot market and caused the polysilicon spot price this week to remain on an uptrend.
As for the contract price, according to EnergyTrend, Asian polysilicon suppliers are leaning towards raising the price while the European and the US suppliers are maintaining the current prices. The major manufacturers expect the contract price in January to fall between US$27/kg and US$30/kg, EnergyTrend has learned. However, the downstream companies are still suffering from deficits and are unlikely to burden their clients with increased costs. Therefore, thus far little prospect is seen for a price surge; whether or not the contract price can be increased to US$30/kg remains to be seen.