Silicon Industry Branch: Market sentiment remains pessimistic, prices continue to decline.

This week, the market remained under bearish sentiment, and polysilicon prices continued to hit new lows. For N-type re-melt feedstock, the traded price range dipped further, reaching 39,000 yuan/ton at the low end; with N-type granular silicon, transaction prices also moved down in tandem, and the average price drop nearly approached 8%. This week, trading activity in the market was subdued. Only one company secured a new order, while most companies had no new signed deals. In addition, there were cases where previously signed contracts were canceled and then re-negotiated with renewed price reductions, which has put some pressure on companies across the board.

With prices continuing to fall, the main reason is that both upstream and downstream enterprises are relatively pessimistic about prospects. Downstream companies have extremely low purchasing willingness and apply very aggressive price-cut pressure. Under inventory and capital pressures, silicon material companies are passively accepting low prices in order to seek cash inflows, creating a negative feedback loop of “the more prices fall, the less people buy.” During the current downward price trend, the greater the rate and magnitude of price decline, the more pronounced downstream sentiment becomes that they are inclined to buy when prices rise rather than when prices fall, which further suppresses procurement demand beyond immediate needs and leaves market demand even weaker. (China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, Silicon Industry Branch)