Impacted by recent market demand changes and narrowing price gaps, mono-si cell demand may increase in 2Q14, analyzed EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce. In regards to spot market, there is limited room for further price increases as further observations are required for supply and demand condition in 2Q. Thus, recent spot prices will continue to fluctuate.

The competitiveness of mono-si cell significantly increased, due to mono-si and multi-si cell’s reduced price gaps and existing efficiency difference advantage. “Current Chinese mono-si cell’s conversion efficiency is around 18.4%, while Taiwanese multi-si cell’s is between 17.4%-17.6%. Usually, cells with conversion efficiency above 17.6% are expensive high-efficiency products with lower production output,” said Arthur Hsu, Research Manager of EnergyTrend. “Chinese mono-si cell’s price quotes is US$0.41-0.43/watt. Meanwhile, quotation of Taiwanese high-efficiency multi-si cell is almost the same as Chinese manufacturers, with conversion efficiency absolute value gap being about 1%. From users’ perspectives, clients are more willing to use mono-si cell because mono-si has higher power output under the same price conditions.”

In addition, market change is another factor that led to increased mono-si cell demand. Supported by PV policies, distributed PV market has started to grow. Also, as PV leasing market expands, distributed PV clients’ major concern is still efficiency. Hence, they can accept higher prices compared to clients that installed ground-mounted systems. On the other hand, mono-si cell is more visually aesthetic because of its color consistent patterns. Therefore, for distributed PV clients, mono-si cell is the top choice in terms of price, efficiency and aesthetics.

This Week’s Price Quotes

Polysilicon price slightly dropped 0.21% to US$20.35/kg. For multi-si wafer, Chinese manufacturers’ quotation continued to slip, with this week’s price dropping 0.1% to US$1.02/piece. For mono-si wafer, increased product inquiry and manufacturers’ optimistic attitude toward mono-si wafer shipment has caused prices to increase 0.8% to US$1.206/piece. Lastly, cell and module prices this week remained flat.