Taiwan-based solar cell makers have been facing tough challenges as average selling prices (ASP) have been falling off a cliff, inventory in Europe has been piling up, and the Taiwan dollar has been growing stronger by the month. In response to the hazardous situation, the companies have been decreasing shipments and April revenues will likely reflect this contraction, according to the Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times.

Solar firms such as Solartech, DelSolar, and E-Ton Solar announced their April revenues with month-over-month decrease of 25.6%, 31%, and 58.5% respectively - the largest decreases since the financial crisis in 2008.

The newspaper cited industry observers as saying that the bleak situation should ease at end of June, but performance in May will likely be worse than April.

The spot price for solar cells has been falling to less than US$1/W and it seems this is not yet the "rock bottom," the paper cited a solar market research report as pointing out.

The weak demand at the consumer end has been pushing prices lower across the supply chain. So far the solar cell firms have been taking hits from both upstream manufacturers and downstream consumers. The increasing cost of raw materials and the freezing demand in the consumer market have been smacking the solar cell firms in the middle, causing falling prices, contracting shipments, and increasing inventories.

The pressure has been moving towards upstream to wafer firms such as Sino-American Silicon (SAS) and Green Energy Tech. (GET). The April revenues for SAS showed a 9.9% on-month decrease. GET has remained strong, but its April revenues showed only a small 1.9% month-over-month increase.

As the Taiwan dollar continues to grow strong, it would be very difficult for solar firms to have record high revenues in May, said the paper.