With new solar cell capacity coming online, the supply of poly-Si wafers is running tight severely, according to industry sources. Spot prices for mainstream 6-inch poly-Si wafers have topped US$3.80 per unit for March, up 5.5% from US$3.60 in February.

Upstream wafer suppliers' capacity expansion still cannot keep up with demand growth, the sources pointed out. Solar cell producers are actually building new capacity at a more aggressive pace, the sources observed.

Meanwhile, spot prices for poly-Si materials also climbed from US$70/kg in February to US$70-80/kg in March, the sources indicated. Prices are likely to reach as high as US$100/kg in April due to a continued supply shortage particularly in China, the sources anticipate.

In the China market, unit prices for 6-inch solar wafers are between US$3.80-4.00 and have approached the high levels for 2010, the sources said. Some solar wafer suppliers have seen orders exceed their available capacity by 20%, and therefore are reluctant to sign any new contracts for 2011 due to doubts whether they can manage to fulfill all the requirements.

In other news, Taiwan's Green Energy Technology (GET) has reported revenues of NT$2.11 billion (US$71 million) for February 2011, up 2.2% sequentially and hitting an all-time high for the 12th straight month. Meanwhile, fellow solar wafer company Danen Technology saw February sales climb to NT$515 million, a monthly high.