According to the latest monitoring data from PVInsights, the market research institute, as of December 31, 2011, the price of photovoltaic products remained stable for two weeks in a row. The prices of polysilicon and 6-inch polycrystalline solar wafers rose, and it is difficult to find below 25 in the polysilicon spot market. US$/kg sellers, for polysilicon supply contracts in January 2012, some upstream suppliers are planning to raise prices slightly.

At the end of the year, the price of polysilicon and silicon wafers did show some signs of recovery. Some wafer makers that had previously stopped production have already begun to revitalize their inventories, and they intend to prepare for resumption of production. For this phenomenon, many industry analysts have analyzed that emerging foreign PV downstream markets have emerged at the end of the year to seize the tide and drive upstream demand. According to another analysis, at present, the market demand for photovoltaics at home and abroad has not been reversed on a large scale, and the long-term downturn in the market may still continue for a long time.

Discontinued companies are ready to make decisions According to the latest PVInsights sample, PV grade polysilicon prices rose by 4.45% this week, and kept rising for two consecutive weeks, and the highest price rose to 30 US dollars/kg, although the lowest price remained at 20 US dollars/kg, but the average price It also rose 3.68%. This is the first rebound since the high price point in March 2011.

For the reasons for the price increase, the latest analysis report of EnergyTrend believes that this is because most manufacturers have already cleared their inventory, so they do not want to further lower prices. On the other hand, there is a large number of urgent orders from India, the United States and Italy in the solar PV industry in the first quarter of 2012. Due to the urgent orders, the production of polysilicon increased.

Zhejiang Province has been the hardest-hit region for photovoltaic market since last year. According to a survey conducted by the China Securities Journal reporter, as of September 2011, 210 photovoltaic companies with built plants and equipment were in place in Zhejiang Province, 60% of which were SMEs, and 78 were established after September 2010. By mid-October last year, less than half of the companies actually started construction. However, the recent rise in the price of polysilicon and wafers has caused companies here to start making decisions.

The person in charge of the Zhejiang Kaihua Mingfeng Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which had been discontinued for nearly five months, told the China Securities Journal that the latest market price for silicon wafers has indeed risen from the previous period. His company had been dealing with the backlog of inventory at a low price. However, the increase in prices this time allowed them to start slowing down and prepare for resumption of production after the end of the year. "I always believe that the market will continue to pick up after the Spring Festival." The responsible person said.

The sound of the industry is that since the beginning of last year, the downturn in the photovoltaic market has caused many manufacturers to suffer more and began to care more about when PV domestic and foreign market demand picks up. On this topic, the voice of the industry is incongruous. The pessimistic voice believes that at least in 2012, the signs of recovery are still far from being expected. However, optimists have seen many hopes from the recent short-term recovery of polysilicon and wafer prices.

The EnergyTrend report believes that in terms of upstream polysilicon production, their judgment is that the current polysilicon price level is already lower than the cost of most domestic companies, and the room for further decline is already very small. Moreover, the market demand in Europe this year will have a limited decline. At the same time, there will be significant growth in the Chinese and Japanese markets. Coupled with the closure of some small and medium-sized manufacturers, the polysilicon price will stabilize and some of the downstream market will gradually become clearer. The domestic photovoltaic giant GCL-Poly's executive director and chief financial officer Tang Yiming said recently that, based on the current annual production capacity of GCL-Poly, photovoltaic orders have been scheduled for the next 8 to 9 years. According to his forecast, the domestic and foreign photovoltaic market will be expected to start to improve in June this year.

However, some analysts still believe that the rise in prices of polysilicon and wafers driven by downstream demand is not sustainable. Haitong Securities analyst pointed out that the rise in polysilicon reflects the degree of inventory digestion and the status of ineffective production capacity. However, considering the current global production capacity and cost of the top four polysilicon manufacturers, the recovery of polysilicon prices does not have a long-term rebound. trend.