Silicone

DMC price was falling slightly in this week. More silicone monomer producers started maintenance. The downstream players, whose demand remained weak, purchased DMC on rigid demand. The price of silicon metal stayed relatively weak. The price of methyl chloride fell, and that of methanol was stable. The current mainstream DMC quotation is RMB 14800/t - RMB15500/t. The price of raw materials was steady this week, maintaining the production cost. The prices of OH polymer, gum, silicone fluid and HCR mostly stabilized, with some areas falling. The silicone monomer manufacturers reduced the operating rate to the larger extent, the downstream players still showed the sluggish demand for DMC. The silicone price is expected to stay relatively weak in the short term.

Fumed silica

This week, the domestic fumed silica market fell slightly. The fumed silica firms offered as the same price as before, but the actual transaction price dropped. In terms of upstream raw materials, the price of silicon tetrachloride (STC) was down a bit, while that of monomethyltrichlorosilane (MTCS) was stable, the production cost was unchanged. The demand for fumed silica in the downstream markets was sluggish. The downstream firms purchased fumed silica on rigid demand. Amid the stable supply, the fumed silica market will be relatively weak in the short period.

Silicon metal

This week, the domestic price of silicon metal declined. On the demand side: Silicone firms suffered losses, the silicone monomer producers expected the price of silicon metal to fall and had sluggish demand for it. As the price of polysilicon continued to decline, polysilicon firms had to purchase silicon metal at a lower price. Aluminum alloy enterprises only bought silicon metal on rigid demand. On the supply side: Silicon factories in the southwest China significantly decreased the operating rate. More than 50 furnaces operated in Sichuan and Yunnan, and some silicon factories in Xinjiang plan to overhaul. However, the total supply of silicon metal in China was at a historical high compared to previous years owing to a considerable increase in the domestic silicon capacity.

Polysilicon

This week, the polysilicon market continued declining with the further contracted trading volume. The transaction price of polysilicon for mainstream orders from the first-tier enterprises dropped to RMB 175,000/t-190,000/t. In general, the supply and demand in the polysilicon market was prosperous in April, with no large changes in inventory across various companies. From May to June, as there will be more polysilicon firms releasing the production capacity, the supply of polysilicon will increase. However, during the same period, the operating rate for silicon chips enterprises may be subject to some factor such as the quality of quartz crucibles, resulting in the slower growth in demand than that in supply. It is expected that the price of polysilicon will continue to decline in the short term.