PV Glass Prices Begin To Drop, Producers Grapple With Growing Inventory And Poor Demand

As of November 3rd, the mainstream price for 3.2mm PV glass was 26.5 to 27.5 yuan/sqm (average 27.0 yuan/sqm) and for 2.0mm PV glass was 17.5 to 18.5 yuan/sqm (average 18.0 yuan/sqm). Prices started to fall last week.

During the first week of November, PV glass price announcements were delayed, with some companies undecided about their November quotations due to recent cost changes and demand considerations. Scheduled PV module production fell again in November, estimated below 50GW. Growing inventory along with unmet PV installation demand weighed PV module prices down below 1 yuan/w, which hurt the profits of PV module producers. This prompted downstream firms to pressure upstream suppliers for lower material prices. Glass companies extended negotiation periods mainly due to rising natural gas prices. Despite falling soda ash prices reducing cost pressure and making a price drop inevitable, rising natural gas prices led glass companies to aim for smaller price decreases. Therefore, some delayed their November price announcements. Among those announcing, due to high 2.0mm glass inventory and demand downturn, the price reduction was significant, while the 3.2mm glass price drop was relatively normal.