Due to rapid decline in cell prices, the mono and multi-Si wafer market witnessed weaker prices. Taiwanese manufacturers couldn’t tolerate prices above US$ 0.72/pc, which put pressures on wafer manufacturers. The average trading price dropped to RMB 5.3-5.5/pc in China. The rough market condition will lead to not only weaker prices but also lower utilization rates for wafers.
Mono-Si wafer makers have recently slashed their prices to limit the overall price gap between their products and the multi-Si counterparts. The average trading price of mono-Si wafers has arrived at RMB 6.1-6.2/pc in China and US$ 0.83/pc in Taiwan. Following the rapid mono-Si wafer capacity expansion in China this year, manufacturers felt stressed about high inventory level during the low-season.
The cell market continued to see weak prices in August, with the price reaching approximately US$ 0.24/W in Taiwan. Since cells are now being produced at a loss, Taiwanese cell makers have made larger reduction to their capacity utilization, by margins of 40% or more. Due to lower manufacturing cost, Chinese makers can still tolerate further price decline, with current cell prices reaching RMB 1.8-1.85/W. However, this price is close to the bottom line for Chinese cell makers, and thus some Chinese cell makers may reduce utilization rates.
Module stock level has increased substantially. Many module makers have stock that can supply more than two months of demand, resulting in record low bidding prices for Chinese power plants. Due to the lack of exports, second-tier makers had to lower prices further, which accelerated the decline in module prices in China.