Cell makers couldn't tolerate current wafer prices, leading to lower multi-Si wafer prices. Although multi-Si wafer prices remained at US$ 0.70/pc in Taiwan, some makers have started to lower utilization rate because the price is lower than manufacturing cost. Mono-Si wafer makers continued to slash their prices to limit the overall price gap between their products and the multi-Si counterparts. The average trading price of mono-Si wafers has arrived at RMB 6-6.15/pc in China and US$ 0.8/pc in Taiwan.
The cell market witnessed the most significant decline in prices compared with other sectors of the supply chain. Multi-Si cell prices could no longer surpass US$ 0.24/W. Since cells are now being produced at a loss, the average utilization rate has dropped below 50% for Taiwanese cell makers. Meanwhile, Chinese makers have also lowered their utilization rate with the cell price reaching RMB 1.8/W. The overall weak demand has caused prices of PERC cells or cells made in a third-party country to drop as well.
Module stock level has increased substantially. In fact, the total stock has exceeded 3GW for all top-tier Chinese module makers. Therefore, the market still hold conservative attitude toward future price trend even though demand may increase in Japan and China in 4Q16. This has caused module prices to drop further. It's also the same for overseas module prices. For example, module prices in Japan and the US have declined significantly.
