The top 20 solar module suppliers accounted for almost 70% of global solar shipments in first-quarter 2013, according to Solarbuzz.
"The continued consolidation of solar manufacturers is creating opportunities for the leading tier-one module suppliers," explained Ray Lian, senior analyst at Solarbuzz. "The market share of the top 20 module suppliers increased significantly in first quarter of 2013 to 70%, up from 58% in first-quarter 2012."
As the solar industry continues to show increasing globalization of end-market demand, tier-one solar module suppliers are implementing aggressive overseas marketing strategies to increase market share. This is most evident among the top 10 China-based tier-one solar module suppliers such as Yingli Green Energy, Trina Solar, Canadian Solar, Jinko Solar, and Renesola.
China-based solar module suppliers continue to dominate the global supply landscape, with 41% of module shipments coming from the top 10 tier-one China-based suppliers over the past four quarters. Emerging China-based tier-one suppliers that had previously been focused on solar cell manufacturing, such as JA Solar and Hareon Solar, also gained market share as they increased solar module shipments.
Over the last four quarters, US-based manufacturers First Solar and SunPower were the leaders in module shipments to the US market. In Japan, leading domestic solar module suppliers Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic, and Solar Frontier also outperformed China-based competitors during the same time period.
Solar module supply to the US and Japan is contrasted by the dominance of tier-one China-based module suppliers in Europe, emerging solar regions, and in China and Australia. Over the past four quarters, for example, almost 50% of modules shipped to the Australia solar market have been supplied by a small group of tier-one China-based manufacturers led by Trina Solar, followed by Renesola, Suntech, China Sunergy, and Canadian Solar.
Leading tier-one solar module suppliers in Europe, such as Conergy and SolarWorld, continue to target Europe and North America solar markets that are characterized by brand recognition and higher pricing levels. However, this strategy comes at the expense of global penetration, as their market share within the top 20 module suppliers declined from 10% in first-quarter 2012 to 7.5% in first-quarter 2013.
While solar module pricing levels continue to vary across the key solar end-markets, the average sales price for the top 20 tier-one suppliers showed signs that it was stabilizing at US$0.76/W in first-quarter 2013. This compares to US$1.03/W in first-quarter 2012.
"The stabilization of module prices during first-quarter 2013 was driven mainly by a geographic shift in demand from end markets during the quarter, with strong demand from higher price countries such as Japan preventing further global declines," added Lian. "However, pricing continues to vary considerably among different countries and for the various module technology types being supplied."
Trade disputes and domestic manufacturing incentives are creating import restrictions across a range of solar end markets, so supplier market share and country specific pricing levels will increasingly dominate the global strategies being rolled out by leading tier-one module suppliers for the remainder of 2013, said Solarbuzz.
