China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) reported in mid-September that China’s output of rolled PV glass has remained on the uptrend. In addition to the ongoing increase in production volume, Chinese suppliers for rolled PV glass have also been experiencing falling prices, rising production costs, and weakening profitability. This situation is getting more challenging for them in terms of operation.
Regarding production capacity and production volume, MIIT reported that China’s production capacity for rolled PV glass rose by 55.1% year on year for the January-August period. As for the end of August, the number of domestic suppliers operating in the country came to 38. The numbers of furnaces and production lines came to 113 and 370 respectively. Altogether, China’s production capacity for rolled PV glass reached around 68,500 metric tons per day. As for China’s production volume for the January-August period, it came to 9.63 million metric tons and registered a year-on-year growth rate of 52.5%. Production in August totaled around 1.418 million metric tons, up 64.5% year on year. At the end of August, China’s inventory for rolled PV glass reached around 29 days, or eight days more compared with the inventory level at the end of July.
Turning to prices of rolled PV glass products in China, the average price of 2mm and 3.2mm rolled PV glass products for the January-August period arrived at RMB 20.9 per square meter and RMB 27.1 per square meter respectively. The average price of 2mm glass showed a year-on-year drop of 15.6%, and the average price of 3.2mm glass showed a year-on-year drop of 8%. Looking specifically at prices in August, the average price of 2mm glass came to RMB 20.6 per square meter, registering a year-on-year increase of 10.3% and a quarter-to-quarter decline of 3.7%. The average price of 3.2mm glass came to RMB 26.7 per square meter, registering a year-on-year increase of 16.3% and quarter-to-quarter decline of 3.3%.