Major Chinese polysilicon supplier Daqo New Energy announced on December 6 that its new production facility Phase 4B in Xinjiang entered the pilot production phase on the same date. The designated total production capacity of Phase 4B is 35,000MT per year. Following the activation of the new facility, Daqo intends to gradually ramp up and achieve a total production capacity of 105,000MT per year by the first quarter of 2022.
Zhang Longgen, CEO of Daqo, commented that this expansion project has been completed ahead of schedule, and the facility will be operating at fully-loaded capacity by the end of next March. Zhang also said that the proceeds from the IPO of its subsidiary Xinjiang Daqo that took place this July will be used to support its business operations. Daqo is staying with its plan to achieve a total polysilicon production capacity of 270,000MT per year by 2024.
Besides Daqo, GCL-Poly and Tongwei are going to activate their newly added production capacity for silicon materials near the end of this year. Hence, there is a possibility that the supply crunch for polysilicon will start to ease in 2022 and thereby lead to a general decline in polysilicon prices. On the other hand, the increasingly tense relationship between China and the US remains a significant variable in the global market for PV products. It is worth noting that Daqo is the only Chinese polysilicon supplier that is based in Xinjiang while being listed on the US stock market.