Due to continual tight supply, both contract and spot quotes for solar wafers will increase in March. Spot wafer pricing will likely rise to US$3.7-3.8 from US$3.5-3.6 currently, according to industry sources.

Solar wafer makers are currently in quote negotiation for March. With a shortage of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) causing an increase in procurement cost and continual tight supply, the manufacturers have already informed their solar cell clients of price hikes, the sources said.

Taiwan-based solar wafer makers reportedly are seeing orders in excess of capacity by 20-30%.

Some solar wafer makers have even begun to reject order contracts since February, because they know their capacity is insufficient to fulfill demand. Many solar cell makers have aggressively signed wafer supply agreements in the second half of 2010 since they foresaw the shortage to persist in 2011.