With the advent of the traditional slow season, demand momentum has slowed down and the period of product clearing has been extended. Hence, EnergyTrend believes that continued price decline in the overall solar industry will be inevitable, and solar companies will likely face challenges in achieving profitability.
In the Module segment, the current prices fell 1~2% compared to last week, but module makers indicated that demand momentum and the rate of product clearing has shown no apparent reversal, therefore, pressure to lower prices still exists. In the Cell segment, since customers continue to request price decrease, so prices have fallen below $ 1.2/per watt this week. Furthermore, some manufacturers are facing pressure from increased inventory levels, and in the short term, the continued declined of prices will inevitable, with quotation likely to be close to $ 1.1/per watt over the next few weeks.
For upstream Poly and Wafer, affected by the continued price reduction of their customers, Poly and Wafer manufacturers have also been asked to absorb some of the losses, therefore, Poly and Wafer prices also declined this week. However, according to information gathered from visiting Poly ans Wafer manufacturers, EnergyTrend noted that production capacity may still be tight in 2011, therefore, although prices may continue to decline, the fluctuations should be fairly moderate.
In the silicon film segment, although price quotes are still adjusted according to price fluctuations of silicon modules, leading to the decline in prices of silicon film. Upon further analysis, the Nc-Si Nanocrystalline Silicon and A-Si Amorphus Silicon products differ slightly – for Nc-Si Nanocrystalline Silicon, as there is no significant increase in production capacity in the short term, and since Nc-Si Nanocrystalline Silicon is more efficient than traditional A-Si Amorphus Silicon, therefore, its contract price still maintained at $ 1.5/per watt. For A-Si Amorphus Silicon products however, due to low conversion efficiency and aggressive market competition, manufacturers face greater pressure on prices.
According to EnergyTrend’s survey, currently, spot market price for A-Si Amorphus Siliconreached $ 1.23/per Watt.
Looking ahead, EnergyTrend noted that prices may continue to decline before the Chinese New Year, but in late February, market demand momentum is expected rebound, and potentially stabilize the price decline.
