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In a new weekly update for pv magazine , OPIS, a Dow Jones company, offers a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.
Mono M10 and G12 wafer prices could soon bottom out as they extended their losses this week to new all-time lows according to OPIS data, with their price down 2.33% and 1.44% to $0.293 /unit and $0.410/unit, respectively.
Although the wafer market remains weak, this weeks price drop has been less drastic than the previous two. This is because wafer prices are expected to bottom out soon, according to an industry source.
Even if the price of polysilicon in China is CNY 50 ($6.86)/kg, the cost of M10 wafers from major manufacturers would still be just over CNY 2/unit, according to a polysilicon seller. A selling price of 2 CNY/unit will not be reached until the price of high-purity quartz crucibles also plummets, he added, thus concluding that the minimum selling price of M10 wafers could be around 2 .1 CNY/unit and 2.2 CNY/unit.
The price difference between the wafers offered by large producers and the rest is reducing. Both large and small producers have reduced the prices of M10 wafers to between CNY 2.3 and CNY 2.4/unit after a Tier 2 wafer manufacturer took the initiative to lower prices, according to a veteran market observer.
Wafer companies are no longer profitable given current polysilicon prices, one developer said. According to OPIS, polysilicon prices in China fell almost 5% this week, to 65,875 CNY/kg. To minimize losses, wafer companies would rather cut production further than sell wafers at significant losses, suggesting wafer makers can no longer afford further price reductions, the source added.
The only encouraging news in the wafer market is that polysilicon prices in China are falling more than wafer prices, which could help wafer makers recoup some of their losses, according to a market source. “The end of the downward trend in wafer prices is at hand, as polysilicon prices approach their cash cost,” the source added. |
