CHINA, KOREA SUN PRODUCTION UP, PRICES DROP

Production Capacity Advances in China and Korea Triggered Price Decrease
11 August 2011 (Energy Trend)

"…[P]olysilicon spot price has shown a significant decrease…[T]his week’s average price came to $52.55/kg, a 2.92% decrease…Both multi-Si wafer and mono-Si wafer average prices have also decreased by 1.85% and 1.52% respectively, arriving at the price of $2.013/piece and $2.592/piece.

"…[T]he cell and module market prices remained high at $0.9/Watt due to Europe’s strong demand for high conversion efficiency solar cell. However lower quality products have encountered a fierce price competition, with the price reaching as low as $0.7/Watt…[The] average solar cell price dropped by 2.01% to $0.78/Watt while the average module market price declined by 1.19% to $1.242/Watt."

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"Since the demand prospects for the late third quarter to fourth quarter of 2011 remained unclear, manufacturers have taken a conservative attitude towards the polysilicon inventory level. Medium and small-scale manufacturers, dominating the spot market are becoming stringent in monitoring inventory control since they are unable to weather market changes as well as their top-tier counterparts…

"…[A]s polysilicon production capacities are about to increase in China and Korea, the downstream PV manufacturers believe that polysilicon price pressure will rise, in turn affecting manufacturers’ procurement intentions. EnergyTrend therefore projects that the polysilicon price is expected to reach $45/kg by the end of 2011."