Outlook brightens for beleaguered supply chain, with makers of polysilicon possibly returning to profitability this month
Beijing’s fight against disastrous competition in the solar-equipment sector showed early signs of success, with a sustained recovery in prices likely to return leading polysilicon makers to profitability after 18 months of losses, according to analysts.
A raft of initiatives – including a proposal to limit manufacturing plants’ power use – following a series of government-industry meetings to discuss self-imposed production controls, had borne early fruit, they said.
“Upstream solar-product prices continue rising this week, up 2 to 4 per cent week on week, supported by positive policy sentiment on industry capacity consolidation,” said Pierre Lau, Citigroup’s head of Asian utilities and clean energy research, in a report on Thursday.
Between early last month and early this month, prices for polysilicon, solar wafers and solar cells have risen 5 to 7 per cent, said Gary Zhou, Deutsche Bank’s head of renewables and utilities research.
