German chemicals company Wacker Chemie AG's cumulative EBITDA for Q2/2021 went up 3 times since Q2/2020 with a total of €326.6 million, thanks mainly to the high sales volume and prices of solar-grade polysilicon, a product that had been rather a cause for trouble in the past (see Polysilicon Prices Pull Down Wacker's Q2/2020 Sales).
During Q1/2021 and Q2/2021, Wacker Chemie's EBITDA increased 100% to €573 million, with its polysilicon division contributing €199.7 million. Group sales grew 40% annually to a total of €1.5 billion in Q2/2021, while during H1/2021 group sales added up 26% to €2.86 billion.
Polysilicon sales in Q2/2021 more than doubled to €352.9 million and EBITDA increased to €148.7 million, which was roughly 3 times higher than the preceding quarter's €51.0 million (see Wacker Chemie's Q1/2021 Polysilicon Sales up 62% YoY).
"Our polysilicon business has been performing particularly well, fueled largely by the high quality of our product for both highly efficient solar cells and semiconductor applications, and by strong customer demand in a tight market," said Group CEO Christian Hartel.
Buoyed by the Q2/2021 financials and 'continued positive trend in polysilicon prices and strong demand in the chemical divisions', Wacker Chemie has now increased its full year sales forecast, defining it as around €5.5 billion and full year EBITDA at between €900 million and €1.1 billion. However, it does factor in higher raw-material prices and negative exchange-rate effects to negatively impact EBITDA by more than €300 million.
For its polysilicon division, Wacker expects a sales growth of over 50% YoY in 2021 and an EBITDA margin of more than 30% as the German company sees continued strong demand from semiconductors and high-end solar segment.