Wacker Benefits From EU-China Polysilicon Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Issues, says TrendForce

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on April 30, 2014, that they will impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy taxes on European solar-grade polysilicon imports. Since China has signed a price agreement with Germany-based Wacker Chemie, the company will not be charged anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs within the two-year contract period. 

Although Wacker didn’t make their compromised prices public, based on an analysis of the contract content, EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce, estimates that the agreed CIF prices will fall between RMB$145-155/kg (approximately US$23.4-25/kg). As for OCI, Wacker’s biggest Korean competitor, the price quotes is around US$23/kg and rumors has it that it will be increase further. 

According to Wacker’s 1Q14 financial results, polysilicon generated € 262 million in revenue, which increased 4.9% quarterly and 11.3% annually. Production was fully-utilized in 1Q, with solar-grade polysilicon prices and demand rising significantly. Based on current order situation, demand in 2Q still reflects an uptrend. It is projected that full-production status will remain in 2Q as well. “The competition is now very intense between OCI and Wacker as they are competing over China’s market shares. If Wacker’s agreed prices with China do fall within the range mentioned above, they can maintain their high competitiveness in the Chinese market,” says Arthur Hsu, research manager of EnergyTrend. 

This Week’s Market Price Quotes

As for the spot market, demand in April and May continues to increase. In addition, there are rumors that US-China anti-dumping and countervailing initial judgment may be postponed to July. Thus, orders in the beginning of June are being released, while, those in the end of June remains unclear. 

Impacted by rumor of contract price increases, this week’s polysilicon price slightly increased 0.16% to US$20.357/kg. Leading multi-si wafer manufacturers’ prices have turned stable and hence led to increased quotation. This week’s prices reached US$1.006/piece, a 0.2% rise. Mono-si wafer price slightly dropped 0.17% to US$1.204/piece. Cell and module price quotes briefly declined to US$0.381/watt and US$0.618/watt, respectively, due to decreased normal-grade product prices.