In regard to Taiwanese solar companies’ 12’May revenues, according to EnergyTrend, the green energy research division of TrendForce, most companies’ shipments remained steady with utilization rates above 80%. Due to the preliminary ruling on the U.S. anti-dumping and anti-countervailing case against China, Taiwanese solar cell makers continued to receive OEM orders from Chinese manufacturers and used this opportunity to pull up the spot price gradually, which in turn prompted Si-wafer products’ prices to go up. Although Taiwanese solar market prospects seem to look up, certain firms’ May revenues did not see prominent rebounds, which was mainly attributed to the low-price OED orders and the fact that the price increase only began by late May and was yet to reflect on the revenues.
Given Europe’s solar subsidy cut and debt crisis, Asian solar companies are still facing a severe challenge. According to TrendForce, Chinese manufacturers’prices quotes in May were still on the conservative side. Thus, if Taiwanese makers continue to jack up prices, it will become even harder for their products to compete with low-price products produced in China despite their higher conversion efficiency. On the other hand, considering the U.S. solar installations account merely 10% of the global demand,whether Taiwanese makers could constantly make use of the U.S. tariff threat against China to raise their spot prices remains to be seen. By looking the current situation of Europe, it is still uncertain to determine if the global solar industry will see a significant recovery. However, in the long run, large-scale PV projects in China will be one of the main sources of growth momentum.
Taiwanese solar firms’ May revenues differed. Solar cell makers Motech and Gintech’s revenues saw 4% and 7.7% decrease, while NEO Solar Power and Solartech’s revenues went up 8.19% and 8.98%. As for Si-wafer makers, Sino-America Silicon’s revenue increased 21.7% while Green Energy Technology’s revenue dipped 0.3%. As far as June’s outlook is concerned, Taiwanese solar companies’ revenues are expected to increase due to the price uptrend. Considering the traditional peak seasons, the impending Germany’s Intersolar, and Japan’s large power plants’ policy taking effect, 3Q12’s outlook appears bright for the time being.
