News classification
Contact us
- Add: 2F, Building 6, Software Park Zone B, Gulou District, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
- Tel: 0591-22628762
- Fax: 0591-22628951
- Postal Code: 350001
- Email: info@fzhokin.com
BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese polysilicon producers are increasingly
suspending production due to weaker solar panel exports.
"About 90 percent
of polysilicon producers have suspended production. Only a few are still
working, for example, Jiangsu Zhongneng, Daqo and Asia Silicon, but at about
half of their output capacity,"Wang Bohua, secretary-general of the China
Photovoltaic Industry Alliance (CPIA), was quoted Wednesday by Economic
Information Daily as saying.
"Our company ran at about 60 percent of our
total output capacity in November," said Lu Jinbiao, deputy general manager of
Jiangsu Zhongneng.
Prices for polysilicon have gone down by more than half
this year, from 230 yuan per kg in early January to 110 yuan per kg at the
beginning of December.
Polysilicon, or polycrystalline silicon, is a key
component in solar panel construction. The majority of the world's supply is
used for the production of solar panels.
Wang said he believes local solar
product plants have been importing more polysilicon, adding to the burden for
local suppliers.
China imported 70,210 tonnes of polysilicon from January
to October, up 26.16 percent year on year, while import prices averaged 26.16
U.S. dollars per kg, down 61.10 percent year on year, according to customs
figures.
Besides increasing imports, overseas markets have turned hostile
toward solar energy panels, the main end product of polysilicon.
The U.S.
International Trade Commission backed Washington's plan in early November to
issue anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of crystalline silicon
photovoltaic cells and modules from China.
The EU in November announced
that it would investigate alleged state subsidies for Chinese solar panel
manufacturers. This came amid an existing probe into allegations of dumping such
products in European markets.
Anticipating shrinking exports, the central
government has been considering policies to boost the domestic solar energy
market and digest the products.
The central government has allocated
another 7 billion yuan (1.11 billion U.S. dollars) to subsidize domestic solar
photovoltaic demonstration projects, the Ministry of Finance announced on
Tuesday.
Together with the 6 billion yuan earmarked in the first half of
2012, China has in total allocated 13 billion yuan to boost its domestic
photovoltaic market this year.
Despite such efforts, polysilicon producers
will go through hard times in the coming half year, as the domestic market, even
if expanded, will only account for a very small share of the global market, said
Wang Haisheng, a new energy analyst at Minsheng Securities.