According to EnergyTrend, the green energy research division of TrendForce, the announcement of Italy's solar subsidy cut scheduled to take effect by late July has driven the installed solar capacity to surge, and most Chinese solar companies are packed to capacity in order to supply the climbing demand. Taiwanese solar companies’ shipments remain stable due to the OEM orders from China. However, Taiwanese solar companies’ April revenues did not reflect the demand upswing and saw less growth compared to the March ones, mostly attributed to the fact that the spot prices remained below the manufacturing costs.
Source: EnergyTrend
According to EnergyTrend, the high utilization rates of Chinese solar manufacturers not only resulted from the increasing orders from Italy but also the effort to repress the capacity depreciation and maintain their products’ market share.
This demand climb propelled by Italy is expected to persist till mid-May. Given the rising utilization rate, the inventory pressure may be in the way of a potential price rebound if no future growth momentum kicks in. Although Chinese and Taiwanese companies stated they have received increasing orders and were optimistic about the outlook in 2Q12. With no price rebound, the revenues will not see much growth.
Looking toward May, considering the spot prices being below the manufacturing costs, the prices will stay flat until the anti-dumping case between the United States and China is judged. Taiwanese solar manufacturers’ revenues are expected to stay flat given their stable shipments. Motech and Gintech’s revenues in April increased by 8% and 3.9%, respectively, while Solartech’s revenue plunged by 6%. Green Energy Technology’s revenue climbed by 0.16% while Sino-America’s revenue soared by 112.7% due to its strategy in the semiconductor industry.