With the dry season approaching, silicon plants in Sichuan and Yunnan shut down furnaces   

Silicon prices stabilised at low level. Currently, silicon prices hovered around the break-even line in Sichuan and Yunnan regions. As production lasts for nearly half a year, most silicon plants in southwest China saw falling output amid poor furnaces conditions. Under this circumstance, some silicon plants suffered small losses. Moreover, rising power costs again in December may further widen losses. Many silicon plants shut down their furnaces during the week.

This production reduction mainly occurred at the end of the month, and the amount of production reduction was large during the month. Given yet-to-be completed orders, some silicon plants tentatively planned to shut down 5 submerged arc furnaces in the middle of December. In view of power grid requirements, silicon plants in Nujiang tentatively planned to shut down 11 submerged arc furnaces on December 5. Some silicon plants didn’t plan to shut down furnaces until raw materials are used up, with unfixed date of shutdown. In addition to the survey samples from Sichuan and Yunnan, high-cost pressure also tipped a few silicon plants in Hunan, Guangxi, and Fujian into shutdown of furnaces within the month.