A drop in solar module shipments in Q1/2022 pulled down JinkoSolar Holding Co, Ltd's quarterly revenues by 9.9% to $2.33 billion, but increased 85.9% YoY, while gross margin of 15.1% declined QoQ as well YoY due to an increase in material cost of modules.
For the same reasons, gross profit of $351.2 million reduced by 15.8% sequentially and up 63.9% annually, and net income narrowed to $4.6 million compared to $34 million in the previous quarter (see JinkoSolar's Q4/2021 Financial Results).
Nonetheless, on annual basis the quarterly shipments rose 56.7% to 8.39 GW comprising 8.031 GW for modules and 359 MW for cells and wafers as the management admitted to the challenging business environment, referring to high polysilicon prices and shipping costs during the quarter. Logistics congestion and sharp reductions in transport capacity due to China's efforts to control the resurgence of COVID-19 have further increased cost pressures, it added.
"During the quarter, many Chinese provinces started to issue time-of-use tariff policies which have increased demand for distributed generation," shared JinkoSolar's Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Xiande Li. "For utility projects, consistently high prices along the supply chain convinced some customers to not wait any longer to start new projects. By the end of March, the bidding phases for more than 50 GW of such projects had been completed."
The Chinese company increased its shipments to Europe by more than 30% sequentially and sees the Russian invasion of Ukraine as boosting solar demand in the region.
Management sees the challenges as temporary and pins its hopes on continuous supplies of polysilicon to aid gradual recovery of the industry. It has upped its capacity expansion plans aiming to report 55 GW, 55 GW and 60 GW of mono wafers, solar cells (comprising 32.9 GW N-type) and modules, respectively compared to previous guidance of 50 GW, 40 GW and 60 GW, respectively.
The improved guidance comes as it plans to invest in phase II of N-type cells with around 16 GW production capacity. In Q1/2022, it brought online 16 GW N-type cell capacity already.
Recently, it reported 25.7% efficiency for its TOPCon solar cell for 182mm monocrystalline silicon solar cell (see 25.7% Efficiency Record For N-Type Mono-Si Solar Cell).
The Chinese company has guided its Q2/2022 total shipments to fall within the range of 8.5 GW to 9.5 GW, and within 2022 it would have shipped 35 GW to 40 GW, comprising solar modules, cells and wafers citing high visibility for the full year's order book.
JinkoSolar Europe's Head of Sales Central Europe and Turkey, Arda Kristoporyan participated in European Solar Developments 2022 webinar of TaiyangNews where he said the company plans to ship nearly 10 GW modules to Europe in 2022, about doubling its last year's shipments (see European Solar Developments 2022).