Chinese Daqo New Energy Corp., manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the solar PV industry, produced 4,940 tons of polysilicon and sold 4,500 tons to external customers in the third quarter of 2017.

Furthermore, the company sold 26.4 million wafer. In Q3 2016, Daqo sold 2,838 tons of polysilicon and 14 million wafer. Revenues were $89.4 million, an increase of 17.6 percent from the prior quarter. The company generated $24.1 million net income (Q2 2017: $12.1 million).

According to Daqo, as a result of »strong downstream PV market, the market remained short-supplied and polysilicon pricing increased throughout the third quarter.« The company’s third quarter polysilicon ASP were $16.19/kg, representing a significant increase from the second quarter's ASP of $13.58/kg. »We continue to see robust customer demand for our high quality polysilicon, with pricing in the approximate range of $18.50/kg.« Polysilicon average total production cost was $8.95/kg in the third quarter, compared to $8.53/kg in the prior quarter. »The increase in production cost was primarily due to costs related to our annual maintenance, as well as exchange rate related impact and higher raw material cost.«

In October, the Board of Directors approved the company’s plans to increase the polysilicon annual production capacity from 18,000 tons to 25,000 tons, and the further increase to 30,000 tons by the end of 2019. Once ramped up to full production capacity, »we anticipate the overall total production cost for our Xinjiang facilities could potentially be decreased to $7.50/kg, benefiting from better operating leverage, adopting new production processes and equipment with higher efficiencies, and achieving greater economies of scale.«