The silicon price hike is shaving the profit margins of the
Chinese solar product makers. "They are facing an industrial
reshuffle," a senior executive at a Ningbo solar company said to
the China Business News. Such a statement came after the
tidings that the German-based Conergy, a leading company in the
field, would suffer great losses this year.
The figures provided by the Chinese Semiconductor Association
show that the price for the 6-inch polycrystalline silicon wafer
nudged up to nine dollars in the third quarter, more than ten times
the previous price. Nine dollars is the bottom line for the
manufacturers of the solar battery.
Seventy percent of the cost in making solar batteries goes into
the silicon wafer so this price hike will cost all solar companies
an arm and a leg. Moreover, since 2004, their profits have taken a
nosedive. In 2005, the gross profit margin of Suntech Power in Wuxi
City was 30.3 percent. This year, the margin was only 10.6 percent
in the first quarter.
"Domestic solar companies largely depend on the imported
silicon. Its price spiral will definitely influence those
companies," remarked a senior executive.
For more details, please read the full story in Chinese. (
http://www.china-cbn.com/s/n/000004/20071218/020000063152.shtml)
(China.org.cn December 18, 2007)
