Polysilicon maker REC Silicon “more or less without customers”

Shares of global polysilicon production capacity
Through import duties and capacity expansion, China is increasing its share in global polysilicon production – Chart: Bloomberg NEF

U.S.-based REC Silicon is edging closer to shutting down its polysilicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington. The factory is currently running at 25% of its capacity.

According to news agency Bloomberg, CEO Tore Torvund has told his board of directors that he will be forced to shutdown the plant by May if U.S. President Donald Trump does not strike a deal with China in the ongoing trade talks within the next few weeks.

China, whose market share in global solar wafer production already was 83% in 2017, has practically closed its market to polysilicon imports from the USA through prohibitive duty tariffs. REC Silicon’s remaining customer base in Taiwan has also faded away as Taiwanese makers of multicrystalline solar wafers reduced or abandoned production in recent months. “We are more or less without customers,” Torvund said.

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