Taiwan’s Market Update:
Due to the price reduction of the top-tier wafer makers in China last week, the cell market prices all plummeted in Taiwan this week. Only G1 cells in Taiwan could remain at US$0.15 /W. The prices of the other cell sizes were forced to be lowered. Overall, the prices fell between US$0.13~ 0.14/W. Although the prices of the PV cells fell this week, it did not affect the modules, mainly because the PV system integrators were trying to make the grid connection deadline by the end of the month. Consequently the module purchase order has been signed in May. It is estimated that the impact of the cell prices would manifest in the module quoted prices after mid-June.The average price of G1 module fell to US$0.33~ 0.34/W, and the price of M4 module exceeded US$0.37/W this week.
Polysilicon
This week, the prices of polysilicon have generally stabilized. Only the prices quoted by a few polysilicon manufacturers have fluctuated. Impacted by the last round of price cuts in the supply chain, the prices of polysilicon have bottomed out. Given that the mono-grade polysilicon was traded at less than RMB 60 /KG, the profitability of operational manufacturers has been constantly compressed. Only the manufacturing capacity of businesses located in areas, where the electricity prices were lower, had relative cost advantages.
Beginning in early June, the Chinese top- and second-tier manufacturers continued to carry out facility and equipment maintenance, and overseas manufacturers also followed suit. Consequently, China has imported and produced less polysilicon. The pressure of supply and demand has been much alleviated, The sale price in the overall market will stabilize. It is estimated that the prices of polysilicon will remain stable and increase slightly under the stimulus of 630 demand, coupled with the overseas markets opening up to one after another and the rising overall market demand in June.
Wafers
This week, the decline of overall wafer prices narrowed. The prices of large-size products remained stable. Following the price reductions made by leading wafer manufacturers last week, most wafer companies have also adjusted their quoted prices one after another. A small number of companies have quoted their prices slightly lower in order to secure orders for June. Overall, the price reduction of G1 mono-Si wafer narrowed RMB to 2.28-2.45 /pc, and the average price fell to RMB 2.5 /pc. Meanwhile, large-size products are heating up at the moment. The supply of products on the market is still slowly recovering. The average price of large-size products was stable and stood at RMB 2.550 /pc this week.
Regarding multi-Si wafers, the market remained sluggish. Although the demand in the non-Chinese end markets were gradually heating up, the effect has yet to be made manifest in the segment of wafers, which is not enough to boost the price of wafers. Consequently, the average price of multi-Si wafers in the regional markets were driven down to RMB 1.180 /pc and US$0.144 /pc, respectively.
PV Cells
As the demand for multi- and mono-Si cells increased in the end market, the overall cell market maintained stable this week. In June, the global demand will continue to increase. Consequently the sale volume of mono- and multi-Si cells in the market has increased, especially the mono-Si cells. The order visibility has improved. The majority of the operation of the first-tier cell manufacturers was still delivering the standard purchase orders.
Regarding the multi-Si market, the price of multi-Si cells continued to fluctuate around RMB 0.5 /W this week. Although the Chinese market demand has recovered, India, the main non-Chinese multi-Si market, has extended the national lockdown and curfew to the end of June. The market demand outlook still does not inspire much optimism. In addition, the market supply of superior high-efficiency PV cells was a bit tight. Although some companies tried to increase prices due to the tight supply, the overall sale prices, in fact have not fluctuated significantly. The average price this week remained at RMB 0.77 /W.
Modules
Across the entire supply chain, the module market price was the only one that was on the decline this week. Driven by China’s 630-deadline and overseas demand, the prices of first-tier makers were stable. However, the second- and third-tier companies reduced their prices in order to fight for the limited purchase orders. Therefore, the overall module market prices were on a slightly downward trajectory. These included the average price of general multi-Si (275W-280W) modules, which was reduced to RMB 1.4 /W, and the average price of high-efficiency mono-Si (315W-320W) modules was reduced to RMB 1.55 /W.
Meanwhile, as the recent PV projects were announced in China, it was obvious that the prices of various types and sizes of modules, which the module manufacturers would deploy in the auction projects, were on a downward trajectory. And the vertically integrated companies can guarantee the consumption of some modules through the construction of PV projects. This can also generate higher profitability for the module segment.