Photovoltaic industry recruits or warms up

Recently, many photovoltaic companies in China have been recruiting on a large scale, and their orders have increased significantly. Previously, the prices of photovoltaic products have also stabilized and recovered. China's photovoltaic industry began to show signs of recovery after experiencing “winter”.

Liu Jing, market analyst of the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association's Silicon Industry Branch, stated that at the end of December 2012, the price of polysilicon hit a bottom of RMB 115,000 to RMB 125,000/ton; from the beginning of January 2013, prices of various polysilicon photovoltaic products began to In the following weeks, due to the recovery of demand, the active suspension of production by downstream companies, and the impact of the “double reverse” of the US and South Korea, the prices of the whole industry chain increased, and the prices of silicon wafers, solar cells, and modules all rose.

The signs of recovery in the PV market are also reflected in the increase in orders for many companies. Liu Jing said: “A large number of orders entered after January, making the operating rate of domestic first-line companies reach nearly 80%, and the profitability of photovoltaic products has improved substantially.”

Lian Xingxue, president and chief executive officer of LDK Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said: “Since this year's New Year's Day, the photovoltaic market has been gradually recovering. Prices of silicon materials and silicon wafers have been rising, and demand has also rebounded significantly.” Increased orders, after the Spring Festival, LDK established a recruitment plan for 1,200 people.

Dual anti-anticipation and emerging markets are mainly due to warming in the industry. At present, China's photovoltaic industry has shown signs of recovery. On the one hand, it is affected by the upcoming “double reverse” in Europe. Many companies hope to catch up before this and increase shipments; On the one hand, China and other emerging photovoltaic markets have developed rapidly and the installed capacity has increased significantly. This has also strongly promoted the recovery of market demand and the increase in orders for enterprises.

Europe is the world's largest photovoltaic market and is also the main export area of ​​photovoltaic products in China. In 2012, the EU launched a “double counter” survey on China’s photovoltaic products, and the preliminary results may be announced in May this year. Although this will cause great impact on China's photovoltaic industry, in the short term, the "double anti-" expectation has promoted the market to pick up.

"Before the EU ruling, many areas have increased their installations. It is like hearing that grain prices are going up. Everyone buys a bit more rice." Yu Mu-sen said that the market's anticipation of the "double reaction" in Europe is currently One of the main reasons for the industry to pick up.

At the same time, the rapid development of China's and other photovoltaic emerging markets has also accelerated the pace of industrial recovery. According to research by NPD Solarbuzz, a world-renowned photovoltaic market research institute, driven by 5.3 GW of demand in the fourth quarter of 2012, in the second half of 2012, the demand for photovoltaics in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to increase by 80% from the previous year.

“Although the strong demand for photovoltaics at the end of history comes from major European markets, the fourth quarter of 2012 will mark the transformation of the photovoltaic industry, and the demand for photovoltaics will become more globalized and gradually spread to emerging markets.” NPD Solarbuzz predicts that in 2013, the Asia Pacific region The market demand for photovoltaics is expected to grow to 13.5GW, up 50% year-on-year.

Zhai Xingxue said: "Since last year, China has adopted a series of measures to start the domestic market and has accelerated the recovery of the industry." LDK Solar is expected to receive a 500MW domestic PV power plant project this year, which is a substantial increase compared to 200MW last year.

The market is not expected to be too optimistic. Although the signs of recovery in the photovoltaic industry are encouraging, people in the industry say that this does not mean that China's photovoltaic industry has come out of this "winter". For the photovoltaic industry in 2013, the market is not expected to be too optimistic.

Meng Xianyu, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Society, said that although the industry has shown signs of recovery, some fundamental problems that have caused the industry to fall into trouble have not yet been resolved. The future development and direction of the industry still needs to be further observed.

"From the current point of view, China's photovoltaic industry is still overcapacity, this basic situation has not fundamentally changed." Meng Xianyi said that in 2012, China's solar cell production alone reached 23GW, a slight increase over 21GW in 2011, but this One year, the installed capacity of global solar cells is less than 30 GW, which is the slowest growth rate in the past decade.

NPDSolarbuzz predicts that the photovoltaic industry will accelerate globalization in 2013, and demand in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and other regions and emerging markets will continue to grow, but these regions also have many uncertainties, which will affect the application of renewable energy and 2013 The final scale of the PV market.

Meng Xianji said: “At present, industrial adjustment has been changing in a good direction under the drive and support of the policy, but it cannot be said that it is completely out of the 'winter', because a lot of backward production capacity has not been eliminated, and we need to wait and see.”