February 01, 2011 --- According to the latest weekly price survey conducted by EnergyTrend, a research institute of TrendForce Corp., solar cell spot prices rebounded slightly this week. Some cell manufacturers offered $1.15/Watt in an unsustainable fashion. The upward price trend may become clear later after the Chinese New Year holiday.

This week’s survey showed that the average quotation of cells rebounded slightly after touching $1.15/Watt at the current price of $1.17/Watt. The increase was only 0.08%. On the other hand, price of module remained unchanged. However, manufacturers of modules said there might be clear upside momentum after the Chinese New Year holiday. As for the prices of upstream poly silicon, the survey showed the prices dropped by 0.14%, unaffected by Chinese government’s imposition of mining cap. Though the wafer market heard bid price of $3.4/piece, the trading price was still above $3.45/piece. Yet, the price of wafer is still on a downward but smoother trend. The decrease was 0.25%. Manufacturers pointed out that the price has bottomed and buyers of wafer are losing power to negotiate the contract price.

According to EnergyTrend, production lines of major suppliers are currently booked through February and some companies are not able to accept more orders because of full utilization rate. These companies stressed that they are not affected by the change of German government’s policies toward the solar industry. It is estimated that they will not pull in production schedule until March. Moreover, because companies will start to settle contract prices after the Chinese New Year, with the increased demand, EnergyTrend estimates that the contract prices will show obvious rebounding effort.