The silicon branch of CNMIA said that polysilicon prices went up after the Chinese lunar year and are likely to stay high for a long time because wafer manufacturers are making more of them.
It said that the prices for the raw materials ranged from CNY 230/kg to CNY 250/kg last week. It also said that the prices for monocrystalline silicon ranged from CNY 222/kg to CNY 248/kg, which is up 31.37% from the middle of January. The organisation said that the average price of monocrystalline silicon has now reached CNY 235/kg.
“After China’s recent New Year’s holiday, wafer makers went back to high production rates so they could handle orders from further down the line. So, they quickly used up all the polysilicon they had on hand,” the CNMIA said. “This made the supply situation tight and caused prices to go up.”
The association said that the recent drop in the price of polysilicon is only temporary.
“In response to the false signals, wafer makers sped up their production, which led to a huge rise in polysilicon demand,” said CNMIA. “Polysilicon buyers will make buying decisions as quickly as possible and figure out the price as soon as possible when prices go up. This is because inventories are running low and manufacturers will be under more pressure to restock. This will probably cause prices to keep going up.”
CNMIA said it thinks prices will go up in the long run in the first half of the year, before a new set of polysilicon plants come online.
The prices of Longi’s wafer products have gone up. Each M10 p-type 150-micrometer wafer now costs CNY 6.25, which is an increase of 15.74%. It is charging CNY 5.40 for each M6 wafer, which is an increase of 18.94%.
“The main reason for the price increase is that the price of polysilicon has gone up a lot recently,” Longi said in a statement. “The company needs to change the price of silicon wafers to match the market.”
This is the first time Longi has raised prices this year. The price of silicon wafers was last changed on December 23, 2022.
