Domestic Supply Growth and Overseas Demand Surge Drove China's Export of Photovoltaic Monocrystalline Silicon Wafers to Spike 34% in 2022

According to customs data, China’s photovoltaic monocrystalline silicon wafer exports stood at 68,300 mt in 2022, a significant increase of 34% year-on-year. The contributing factor is growing domestic silicon wafer supply and the ballooning of overseas photovoltaic installations in 2022.

In 2022, the newly installed photovoltaic capacity in other regions of the world with the exception of China was 164 GW, an increase of 42.98% from 2021. Europe, the United States and India remained the main driver of photovoltaic installed capacity.

The enormous increase in photovoltaic installed capacity has triggered the growth of overseas demand for silicon wafers. As domestic silicon wafer production capacity accounts for more than 98% of the global total, this led to a sharp increase in domestic silicon wafer exports in 2022. The top photovoltaic capacity installation countries also took a lion's share in China’s exports.

On the supply side, in fact, domestic silicon wafer production capacity has been in surplus. But in 2021, due to insufficient supply of polysilicon, the release of silicon wafer production capacity was limited. Entering 2022, a large volume of new domestic production capacity of polysilicon will be released, easing the supply shortages. According to SMM statistics, as of the end of 2022, the domestic polysilicon production capacity was 1.085 million mt, and the output was around 810,000 mt, a year-on-year increase of 57.2% and 55.7% respectively. The corresponding silicon wafer output reached 328 GW, a year-on-year increase of 60.7%. This in turn led to an increase in exports of silicon wafers.