China’s largest producers of polysilicon for solar panels have signaled a turnaround in the industry’s fortunes after steep losses over the past couple of years.
In something of a victory for the industry’s self-discipline measures, top manufacturer Tongwei Co.’s third-quarter earnings on Friday saw losses narrow dramatically, to 315 million yuan ($44 million) from 844 million yuan a year ago. Earlier in the month, No. 2 producer GCL Technology Holdings Ltd.’s solar materials business swung to a profit of 960 million yuan, from a 1.81 billion yuan loss.
The recovery was underpinned by a 50% surge in polysilicon prices since the start of July, when the government began ratcheting up its rhetoric against the cutthroat competition that’s a feature of many sectors including solar. The industry’s own efforts to address so-called involution began in December, and include a 50-billion-yuan fund to retire excess capacity.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.