Credit Suisse: Wacker to be squeezed out by Chinese competition
Analysts at Credit Suisse predict that “Wacker will remain a marginal producer of solar grade polysilicon near term and will be squeezed out by low cost Chinese production longer term.”
Two facts support this view:
1) In 2018 both total polysilicon imports and Wacker’s import volume into China shrank for the first time, each by approx. 12%.
2) The share of polysilicon for monocrystalline wafers in China’s total polysilicon output increased from 16% in early 2018 to 45% in late 2018.
When he presented Wacker’s 2018 results last week, CEO Rudolf Staudigl revealed some nervousness as he blamed “over-zealous” climate policies for electricity price hikes and warned of driving the chemical industry out of Germany.
The German newspaper Tagesspiegel called this “bizarre” because Wacker Polysilicon has been one of the big profiteers from Germany’s PV boom.
Like Europe’s PV industry before, Wacker now experiences China outcompeting foreign competitors through subsidies.
Get Your In-depth Report: The Polysilicon Market Outlook 2029
- Benefit from 102 pages full of rich data, in-depth analyses and detailed forecasts on the polysilicon, solar and semiconductor industries
- Learn all about the latest developments of polysilicon manufacturing technologies (Siemens process, fluidized bed reactor, upgraded silicon kerf loss from wafer sawing)
- Obtain comprehensive data on production volumes and capacities of 41 solar-grade and electronic-grade polysilicon plants from 2023 through 2029
- Gain insight into decisive market trends, based on four sophisticated scenarios of supply and demand through 2029
- Get valuable guidance with cash cost data on 27 solar-grade polysilicon plants and spot price forecasts through 2029
Learn all about the polysilicon market
Comments
Add a comment