The PV Expo exhibition held in Tokyo, Japan ended last week and both the number of visitors and the performance of exhibitors have suggested a great future for the development of global PV market in 2013. However, according to EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce, market differentiation is gradually formed, and facing such change, industries are adopting more flexible strategies.

By interviewing related industries, we discovered that most industries at the exhibition believe that the Japanese market has its own uniqueness that differs from other markets. As shown at the exhibition, PID Free has become the common emphasis among various industries. According to related cell manufacturers, although PID Free was first proposed by European countries, it has been most greatly developed in the Japanese market. Certified industries such as TUV and PI-Berlin have frequently introduced themselves to related industries at the exhibition, hoping that their specifications could be first certified by the Japanese market. On the other hand, anti- snow load is also common among the industries at the exhibition; due to the recent extreme weather in northern Japan and Hokkaido, this has impressed the local customers even more. Therefore, common product specifications are more adopted by the Japanese market, and additional specifications in accordance with local market demands are also gradually increasing. Joint projects of related industries and Japanese local industries are increasing in order to be more suited for the market and more able to meet customer demands. By cooperating with each other, industries are therefore able to optimize limited resources and perform the best business strategies.

Benefiting from the increasing product popularity in the spot market, downstream manufacturers have started to raise the price. As for USD quotes, oversupply has resulted in prices lower than costs. Several polysilicon manufacturers have begun to cut production in order to reduce deficit; follow-up effects are yet to be seen.