During Q1/2022, China improved its cumulative output of PV rolled glass by 34.2% on annual basis to 2.991 million tons (MT) as manufacturers reported declining profits, while industrial silicon production went up 21.2% to 664,000 tons, with growing demand from the PV industry.
Domestic consumption of industrial silicon in the period was 535,000 tons with an increase of 22.6% from the previous year, while exports declined 6.7% to 180,000 tons.
For PV rolled glass, within the month of March 2022 the output improved 34.3% from the previous year to 1.038 MT. The inventory period for the industry on an average is about 16 days, having gone up 3 days YoY.
During the reporting period, the average price of 2mm and 3.2mm products dropped 38.9% and 36.3% annually to RMB 20.5 per sq. mtr. and RMB 26.3 per sq. mtr., respectively. In the month of March 2022, their prices declined 34.4% and 31.5% annually to RMB 20.9 per sq. mtr. and RMB 26.6 per sq. mtr., stated the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The ministry's Department of Raw Materials further says during the period, the PV rolled glass industry was affected by factors as rapid capacity expansion in the PV industry, increased cost of raw materials and fuel, along with market demand in the off-season.
There was a general trend of high inventory and declining profits as some producers resorted to limiting their production activity.
Citing monitoring data from the China Construction Glass and Industrial Glass Association, at the end of March 2022, the country had 300 production lines.
Earlier the department had reported average prices of 2mm PV rolled glass as RMB 20.2 per sq. mtr. in February 2022 having dropped 41.4% on annual basis, while that of 3.2 mm dropped 38.4% to RMB 26.3 per sq. mtr. (see China: 110,000 Ton Polysilicon In Jan+Feb 2022).