The current development of silicon metal
With the continuous development of global information technology, the global demand for silicon matal is growing rapidly, mainly used to make semiconductor materials, solar cells, various integrated circuits, metal ceramics, military weapons, optical fiber communication, excellent performance of silicon organic compounds and other widely used in aerospace, electrical and electronic, construction, transportation, chemical, textile, food, light industry, medical, agricultural and other industries. Especially in recent years, with the accelerated development of solar photovoltaic, automotive, construction engineering, electronic information several industries, but also make silicon products have experienced a huge change from oversupply to overcapacity.
Since 2011, the PV market has continued to be in the doldrums, the economies of developing countries are facing overheating development problems, the economies of developed countries are recovering slowly, the European debt crisis has not yet been lifted, and the overall growth rate of the global economy is slowing down. As of June 2013, global silicon metal production capacity in the first half of 2013 was 4.94 million tonnes, up 3.1% year-on-year, and global silicon metal production in the first half of 2013 was 1.09 million tonnes, up 6.8% year-on-year. Of these, the Western market was relatively stable, with silicon metal production essentially unchanged by much. There are 13 major foreign silicon metal companies, the largest of which is not the Spanish Atlantic Ferroalloys Group, which produced 101,000 tonnes in the first half of 2013 (excluding Chinese plants), down 2.8% year-on-year. Global Metallurgy in the United States is the second largest foreign silicon metal company, with total industrial silicon production rising to 96,000 tonnes, despite the fact that Global Metallurgy posted losses in both its second and third quarters of 2013. Brazil is the largest producer of silicon metal outside of China and exports most of its products to Europe and the U.S. In the first half of 2013, Brazilian silicon metal production declined due to the continued low price of silicon metal in the U.S. However, the overall impact on the market was extremely limited due to the small change and production is expected to grow again in the second half of the year. Russia, Australia, Iran and other countries, due to their small production base, market stability, perennial near full production state, production changes are very limited.
Thus, it appears that the increase in silicon metal production in China has led to a rise in global production. However, the increase in global silicon metal consumption has still seen a decline. In the first half of 2013, global silicon metal consumption totalled 1.07 million tonnes, up 3.9% year-on-year from 2012: of which 490,000 tonnes of aluminium alloys were consumed, up 8.6% year-on-year; 420,000 tonnes of organic silicon were consumed, up 5.2% year-on-year; and 120,000 tonnes of polysilicon were consumed, down 20% year-on-year.
