The silicon metal market in September 2022

Monthly market report of silicon metal for September

The Review of Silicon Metal Market

Metallurgical grade silicon market

In early September, the news of Yunnan’s imminent power cuts led to increased enthusiasm in the buyer’s market to buy goods. In addition to the imminent National Day holiday, many downstream factories were actively placing orders and stocking up. However, the price of silicon metal was already at a certain high level, so the buyer’s market continued to perform. It is more cautious, and there is no phenomenon of a large number of hoarding. The production time is limited during the flood season, and silicon metal factories in Sichuan and Yunnan are reluctant to sell. In addition, the epidemic in Xinjiang has not fully resumed production, and the fluctuation range of silicon metal is relatively limited. In the early days of the National Day, the downstream orders have been placed, and the buyer has a heavy wait-and-see mood. Recently, the trading volume of metal silicon is relatively small.

 Chemical grade silicon market

Compared with metallurgical grade silicon metal, the rise of chemical grade silicon metal this month is relatively small. The organic silicon market is sluggish, and there is no obvious upward momentum in the short term, so the ability to accept 421# chemical grade silicon metal purchase is limited. The highest monthly transaction price of chemical grade silicon metal this month is around 22,000 yuan/ton. The price of chemical grade 421# silicon metal in Sichuan is around 215,000 yuan/ton, and the price in Yunnan is 21,500-22,000 yuan/ton. The price in Xinjiang also remains high.

The Exporting Market of Silicon Metal

In August, the total export volume of silicon metal products was 56,258 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 11,456 tons, a decrease of 16.92%, and a month-on-month decrease of 2,619 tons, a decrease of 4.45%. From January to August, the total export volume was 465,449 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 67,966 tons or 12.74%.

In September, the export market of silicon metal was not significantly boosted, and the foreign market also had a certain amount of inquiries before the National Day, but there was still a clear difference with the domestic price. Foreign customers are relatively cautious in buying and stocking goods, mainly buying goods just in need.

The Operation and Capacity

As of the end of September, 422 metal silicon submerged arc furnaces have been opened ,an increase of 88 units from the previous month, and an increase of 81 units from the same period last year.The operating rate in September was 68.73%, an increase of 13.16% from the previous month. In September, the silicon metal output was about 327,450 tons, an increase of 41,520 tons or 14.52% month-on-month.The total output from January to September was 2,545,840 tons, a year-on-year increase of 570,250 tons, an increase of 28.86%. In September, the monthly production capacity of silicon metal was 391,420 tons, with a capacity release rate of 68.56%, a month-on-month increase of 5.47%.The cumulative production capacity from January to September was 2,922,200 tons. At present, the construction of several major production areas of silicon metal is basically stable. Due to the problem of power curtailment at the end of the month in Yunnan, the construction began to decline slightly, but the production of silicon metal in the country is still at a high level.

The Market Prediction For October

In terms of cost: the cost of metal silicon in September was mainly due to a certain change in the price of coal washing. Due to energy efficiency management in Yunnan, some factories chose to stop production, and some factories were under pressure, and their production costs increased.

Supply and demand side: The supply side is basically normal this month, and Yunnan has reduced production at the end of the month, but the operation rate of a large factory in the north is also increasing. It is expected that only the output of silicon metal in Yunnan will decrease slightly next month, and other regions will be basically normal.

To sum up, the market is not very motivated to buy goods before the National Day, and the market output is also at a high level. The buyer’s market is relatively cautious. It is expected that the price of silicon metal will decline to a certain extent after the festival. After ushering in the second wave of power cuts, metal silicon prices will rise again.