According to Bloomberg, LONGI employed around 80,000 people last year at its height, implying that the claimed redundancies might affect as many as 24,000 employees. According to the LONGI website, the company employed 60,601 workers as of April 30, 2023.
Bloomberg stated that the layoffs began in November, with largely management trainees and factory workers losing their jobs, but LONGI claimed that just 5% of its employees may lose their employment.
Finlay Colville, Solar Media’s head of research, evaluated the solar PV manufacturing sector in an essay published on PV Tech and predicted a slump in 2024. Colville said that the global solar market might be experiencing a 30–40% module excess, which has made module manufacture less profitable in the previous year.
LONGi attempted to get ahead of this decline, calling on the Chinese government in early March to implement new bidding regulations to curb low pricing and safeguard the long-term development of China’s renewables business.
According to the company’s chairman, Zhong Baoshen, some solar PV manufacturers bid at prices far lower than the cost of solar PV components. He deemed the practice of bidding prices lower than the costs of solar PV components “unsustainable.”.
Ironically, this behavior echoes one that occurred in Europe for most of last year, when responsibility was focused on Chinese manufacturers. In January, Johan Lindahl, secretary-general of the European Council of Solar Producers, told PV Tech Premium that low-cost Chinese modules were flooding the European solar market, making it nearly difficult for European producers to make a profit. This overstock appears to have caught up with LONGI, which is beginning to see its margins collapse.
