A number of major PV firms, including Giga Solar Materials, DelSolar and Neo Solar Power, have posted their March sales. Solar-cell conductive adhesive maker Giga Solar saw its March sales bounce 27.44% sequentially, following a sales decline of 20% in February. DelSolar's March sales advanced 7.54% sequentially, and Neo Solar Power's dipped 3.11%.
Giga Solar racked up NT$339 million (US$11.7 million) in sales in March, a record high. The sequential growth was also the highest among PV firms.
But Giga Solar's first-quarter sales only inched up 1.73%, a far cry from the market expectation of 20% growth, as its sales performance still failed to live up to expectation in March, the most important sales month for the quarter.
Market observers had expected Giga Solar to see strong gains from its foray into the China market, but that failed to materialize. The company lags behind schedule in passing certification for silver-aluminum adhesive in the China market. Orders from China clients have been lower than expected, perhaps because China's solar-cell firms' actual output is not expanding as fast as their capacities.
An official of the company blamed the worse-than-expected performance in the first quarter on the 20% sales decline in February, mainly due to marked decrease in working days during the Lunar New Year holiday in China. The March performance meets the low level of expectation but April sales are expected to return to normal level.
Giga Solar still expects to continue to make market share gains in China for its mainstream product aluminum adhesive. It is expected to announce a black ink for the first quarter in an investors' conference at the GreTai Securities Market on April 26.
Sales of solar cells fluctuated in March, due to mixed performance in the end market in the second half of March, as well as decline in demand. Sales of DelSolar amounted to NT$1.198 million in March, up 7.54% sequentially and 96.99% on year. Consolidated sales from operations in Taiwan and China hit NT$1.215 billion, up 2.5% sequentially and 96.99% on year. First-quarter sales shot up 127.03% to NT$3.544 billion.
Neo Solar saw its March sales hit NT$2.371 billion, down 3.11% sequentially but up 109.53% on year. First-quarter sales amounted to NT$7.258 billion, up 141.13% on year