Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, July 21 (TMTPost) —— China's total exports of photovoltaic products, including silicon wafers, batteries, and modules, amounted to more than $29 billion (about 207.8 billion yuan) on a preliminary basis in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of about 13%.

Wang Bohua, Honorary Chairman of China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA), presented the above data on Thursday at the seminar on the review of the development of the PV industry in the first half of 2023 and the outlook for the second half of the year.

Wang said that the growth of silicon wafers and cell exports was over 20% year over year in each month of the first half, faster than the overall growth of 13%. The proportion of exports of silicon wafers and cells in total photovoltaic product exports increased by 2.3 percentage points in the first half of the year. Module exports still maintained a faster growth rate year-on-year, but the proportion of export value decreased. "Chinese enterprises exported modules came first, next cells, and finally silicon wafers in the upstream industry. As companies expand their overseas presence, the demand for upstream cells and silicon wafers is also increasing," said Wang.

As for destinations for photovoltaic products exports, Europe is still China's largest export market in the first five months, with a growth rate of more than 40% and a market share of about 50%, according to data from the CPIA. Exports to the Asia market have the most complete set of products, with Asia as the largest importer of China-made silicon wafers and battery wafers. Africa is the fastest-growing market, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 120%. Component exports to South Africa increased by more than three times year-on-year. However, because the speed of installation is lower than the speed of export of components in the African market, it is difficult to maintain a high growth rate in the future. 

"There may be a slowdown in the growth rate of exports of photovoltaic products in the second half of the year," Wang said. He pointed out that the export growth rate is likely to decline in the European market, constrained by labor, land, grid consumption, and other issues, coupled with the current high level of inventory. Although the export growth rate is high in Africa, the base is small. 

China's exports of PV products totaled $51.25 billion in 2022, up 80.3% year-on-year from 2021, the second-highest year-on-year growth rate in history.

China's photovoltaic products export continued the fast growth from last year to the first half of 2023. Wang was upbeat about export growth in the full year.

"At present, as more than 60% of China's photovoltaic products are sold overseas, we must focus on overseas markets," said Wang. He also emphasized that the global competition in PV manufacturing intensified due to the endogenous demand, local manufacturing incentives, and trade barriers, adding that China, the United States, India, and Europe are major players in the global photovoltaic industry but the restructuring of the industry is accelerating and  more investments are piling in the field.