Tight Supply Drives Up Silicon Prices

The domestic polysilicon market continued to pick up after the holiday. According to the monitoring of the business agency, the weekly increase of polysilicon was 2.55%. The price of domestic silicon material manufacturers continued to rise. The operating rate of downstream silicon wafers has increased, and scattered quotations have continued to rise; and the profits of cell and module manufacturers have improved, and the price of imported silicon materials has also remained high. During the Chinese New Year holiday, downstream silicon wafers, cell manufacturers and other manufacturers did not stop working, production continued as normal, and silicon material continued to be consumed; in addition, the release of silicon material manufacturers after the holiday was less than expected, and the tight supply led to price increases. At present, the price range of polysilicon material is in the range of 180,000-205,000 CNY/ton, and the price range of monocrystalline material is in the range of 235,000-250,000 CNY/ton.

In terms of supply, the supply of silicon material enterprises was stable this week. After the holiday, the factory's installations are mainly started normally. At present, all 12 domestic installations have started operation, but the output of the newly put into operation is less than expected. In addition, individual manufacturers have broken lines for maintenance, and the supply is even tighter. Therefore, the price of supporting silicon material is high. Most of the orders in February were completed one after another, and some scattered orders pushed up the price of silicon materials.

In terms of intermediate products, the price of silicon wafers was generally stable this week. With the boost of overseas installed capacity, the quotations of some polysilicon wafers still rose, and the market sentiment heated up. After the festival, the leading silicon wafer companies have not yet announced the price adjustment notice, but the focus of the second and third-tier silicon wafer quotations has gradually increased. At present, the mainstream transaction price of M6 is about 5.25 yuan/piece, the mainstream transaction price of M10 has slightly increased to about 6.3 yuan/piece, and the mainstream transaction price of G12 is about 8.35 yuan/piece.

Cells and modules: The cell and module market trend is stable this week, showing a certain weakness compared to upstream silicon materials and silicon wafers. Cells are affected by the limited acceptance of terminal components, and the market has a strong wait-and-see atmosphere. The price has not yet been significantly adjusted. At present, the upstream and downstream are still in the game, and the terminal is affected by the increase in upstream prices.

Market outlook forecasts, polysilicon analysts of the business society believe that in the short term, the release of silicon materials in the upstream of the photovoltaic industry chain is less than expected, and the favorable supply will continue to promote the upward trend of silicon materials.