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Polysilicon
Polysilicon prices remained sturdy this week, with overall mono polysilicon quotations sitting at roughly RMB 259/kg. Polysilicon businesses have mostly signed their May orders, and a number of them are unable to provide shipment by having signed an excessive level of orders. Orders for June are scheduled for negotiation starting from next week. Owing to a confined increment of polysilicon and the surging demand for wafers, the excess demand of polysilicon will persist for the short term, and prices are likely to retain some extent of dynamics for inflation next week.
An observation on the production, operation, and shipment of the polysilicon segment indicates that most polysilicon businesses are currently operating at full load. The domestic output of multi polysilicon for May is expected to be approximately 62.2K tons under a MoM growth of 7.2%, and the increase will mainly come from the expanded capacity of Yongxiang, Xinte, and Asia Silicon.
Wafers
Wafer prices had slightly fluctuated this week, with a minor adjustment seen in G12. M10 and G12 were concluded at a respective mainstream concluded price of roughly RMB 6.78/pc and RMB 9.12/pc. There were fewer new wafer orders this week, with most of them being orders from the earlier period. The extension of end demand is constantly elevating large-sized wafer demand, where partial M6 capacity has accelerated on transformation, and M10 capacity has seen an improvement, while G12 wafers are somewhat constrained in supply due to the insufficient provision of polysilicon on the one hand, and the not-yet-mitigated shortages of crucibles used for rod pulling on the other hand. Some businesses have commented on how such impact has lowered their wafer output, who are expected to negotiate for June orders starting from next week, and wafer prices are still likely to rise if production is not improved and demand is extended then.
Multi-Si wafers continue to elevate in prices due to a reduction of resources.
Cells
Cell prices were largely stabilized this week, with mono-Si M6, M10, and G12 cells sitting at a respective mainstream concluded price of roughly RMB 1.13/W, RMB 1.18/W, and RMB 1.17/W. The bargaining between the cell and module segments is becoming heated recently, where module makers are slowing down on procurement and becoming less accepting towards cell prices, which leads to an insufficient level of inflation dynamics for cells. Some businesses have reflected on their increasing inventory, which is still within the normal range. The market is mostly leaning towards a subsequent decrement in prices, and the aforementioned bargaining will yield a conclusion as order status gradually clears up in June.
Modules
Module prices were essentially stable this week, with mono-Si 166mm, 182mm, and 210mm modules sitting at a respective mainstream conclude price of approximately RMB 1.88/W, RMB 1.91/W, and RMB 1.93/W. This week saw an insignificant volume of concluded module orders, followed by a gradual emergence of cost pressure, and low-price resources are now exceedingly scarce. China Three Gorges Corporation opened bids for the 2022 centralized PV module procurement on May 20th, where the average price of modules was above RMB 1.96/W. Current module prices are inducing a certain degree of pressure on projects of ground power stations, and a fallback in demand has thus occurred. Distributed PV projects remain robust in intensity, where regions such as Zhejiang and Xi’an are still offering local subsidization to support development. As for overseas markets, Europe’s policies are resulting in high acceptance towards module export prices and unabated demand.
Regarding auxiliary materials, glass quotations had leveled to the prices last week, where 3.2mm and 2.0mm glasses were respectively concluded at a mainstream price of roughly RMB 28.5/㎡ and RMB 22.5/㎡. After two weeks of inflation in glass prices, the module segment has been constantly releasing pressure of cost, and the deceleration in procurement has not yet resulted in any apparent changes in glass quotations.