Taiwan solar cell makers plan to increase quotes due to expected order increases from China Nuying Huang,Taipei;Jackie Chang,DIGITIMES.The US government announced preliminary anti-dumping duties on China-made solar cells on May 17,2012,and Taiwan-based solar cell makers reportedly plan to increase quotes due to expected order increases from China-based peers.
The high anti-dumping duties on China-based solar cells are likely to push China-based solar firms to issue orders to Taiwan-based peers.Industry sources noted that some solar cell makers in Taiwan have been experiencing high capacity utilization rates because demand from Europe and Japan has been strong.Some firms are unlikely to accept more orders from China-based solar firms due to capacity limits and some have considered increasing prices due to high demand to obtain reasonable profit margins.
The average price of solar cells in Taiwan is around US$0.46-0.48/W.
Some solar firms saw the possibility of a price increase after the announcement,and have stopped quoting solar cells until market conditions become more certain.However,any price increase is likely to be limited as China-based solar firms may focus on selling China-made solar cells in Europe.This may drive down the price of solar cells and modules in Europe significantly.
On the other hand,added industry sources,prices of solar cells differ by conversion efficiencies.The solar market in Europe may not accept a large influx of China-made solar cells because of conversion efficiencies.Hence there is a possibility that prices of solar cells and modules in Europe remain stable despite the large influx of solar cells from China.
