Silicone

This week, the price of DMC generally stabilized. The silicone monomer producers were unwilling to lower the selling price again. The downstream market players purchased DMC in accordance to their needs. The price of silicon metal went on falling. The price of methyl chloride rose, and that of methanol dropped. The production cost of DMC reduced. With the stable price of raw materials, the prices of OH polymer, gum, silicone fluid and HCR were mostly stable across China and falling in some regions. With the sluggish demand for DMC together with a drop in silicon metal price, the silicone price is expected to stay relatively low in the short term.

Fumed silica

This week, the domestic fumed silica market showed stability, and the enterprises offered the steady price. In terms of the raw materials, the prices of monomethyltrichlorosilane (MTCS) and silicon tetrachloride (STC) were stable, the production cost of fumed silica was unchanged. In the week, the demand for fumed silica in the downstream markets was still limited. The downstream firms purchased fumed silica in accordance to their demand. Overall, the supply of fumed silica was abundant. Under the relatively low costs and difficulties in improving downstream demand, the fumed silica market is expected to stay relatively weak in the short term.

Silicon metal

This week, the decline in the domestic price of silicon metal narrowed. Due to the continuously falling price, the silicon metal producers suffered losses. The major enterprises of silicon metal raised the selling price, resulting in the transaction price to gradually come back to normal. As Sichuan and Yunnan regions get into the rainy season regularly, the electricity price is to be decreased further. Meanwhile, silicon metal factories will resume production from June to July, 2023, and the oversupply of silicon metal still exists, for which the market players won’t show much desire of upward price of silicon metal, either.

Polysilicon 

The polysilicon market price continued falling in this week, with only a small amount of transaction made. The declining price of polysilicon was attributed to as follows: First, the price of silicon chips continued to decline, and producers almost saw flat profit. In addition, the company had to reduce production in the case of significant fluctuations in raw material prices. Second, the inventory of the polysilicon industrial chain was shifting upwards. During the price decline, a slight increase in inventory accelerated the downward trend of price. The coming price trend is expected to fluctuate based on the startup schedule of new capacity of polysilicon, the actual reduction amount in the silicon chips production, the demand in the terminal markets and so forth.