SHANGHAI, Mar 8 (SMM) – Operation across Chinese silicon producers continued to slow in February as the CNY holiday and weak prices prompted producers to scale back operations.

Operating rates across silicon metal producers in China averaged 33.3% in February, down 0.5 percentage point on the month and 2.4 percentage points on the year, an SMM survey showed. Rates declined for four consecutive months.

In Xinjiang, rates dropped 4.7 percentage points from January to stand at 46.8% in February as workers leaving for CNY lowered production at Hoshine and as higher electricity tariffs prompted some plants in Ili to cut production.

Workers returned to Hoshine’s plant in Shanshan at the end of February, and operation is expected to fully recover in mid-March.

Plants in Guangxi, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia began to undertake maintenance before the CNY holiday and planned to resume in late February. They postponed restarts to March, given the sluggish market.

With dry-season electricity tariffs cut by 0.03 yuan per kilowatt-hour, five plants in Yunnan’s Nujiang will resume production in mid-March.

Operating rates across silicon metal producers in China are expected to rebound to about 35% in March as plants recover production.