More than 80% of China's 63 polysilicon makers stopped production in 2011-2012 due to continual price drops arising from global oversupply. As polysilicon prices have rebounded since the beginning of 2014, a few of them have resumed production but as many as 47 makers, or 74.6%, are still unable to resume production mainly due to lack of funds to upgrade manufacturing processes and equipment to maintain competitiveness, according to media reports from China.
Of the 16 makers in operation, three are relatively large in operational scale and account for 35% of China's total polysilicon output, the reports said.
Most of the operating makers have invested in technological upgrade to reduce production cost, with power consumption per kilogram of polysilicon lowered from 180kWh in 2010 to 100kWh in first-half 2014, the reports indicated.
