L R AS Published on Saturday 17 February 2024 - n° 476 - Categories:the prices
Virtually no change in wafer prices this week
Wafer prices rose only slightly this week, marked by the Chinese New Year holidays.
The supply of woodchips far exceeded demand, as manufacturers continued to produce despite the holidays. On the other hand,
downstream production came to a halt. Cell production in China in February is expected to be between 35 GW and 40 GW, while wafer production should reach 55 GW. Wafer inventories are expected to grow rapidly. This will have an impact on prices unless the pace of production slows down at the end of the month, says OPIS.
According to one expert, demand for cells could increase in March due to the onset of spring seasonality. At that point, wafer prices could rise or at least stabilise.
There have been several cases of cancellations or delays in plans to commission wafer production units over the past two months, due to increased competition on the market and major fluctuations in wafer prices.
These delays or postponements of production capacity indicate that consolidation is necessary. The sector is currently in a loss-making situation. This will lead to the elimination of obsolete and redundant production capacity.
PV Magazine of 16 February 2024
