Daqo said that it produced a record high 5,657MT of polysilicon in the first quarter of 2018, as well as breaking its previous record of external sales volume, which reached 5,411MT. 

However, multicrystalline wafer sales volume plummeted to only 13.3 million pieces, compared to 22.3 million pieces in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 22.4 million pieces in the first quarter of 2017. 

PV Tech recently highlighted that the largest multicrystalline wafer producer, GCL-Poly Suzhou reported revenue in the first quarter of 2018 of around US$675.3 million, up from around US$562 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and up from US$634 million in the prior year period.

However, GCL-Poly Suzhou has also increased nameplate wafer capacity (inc mono c-Si) in 2017, going from 18.5GW in 2016 to 30GW at the end of 2017, a 62.2% rise, indicating a major softness in multi c-Si wafer demand in the first quarter of 2018.

Financial results

Daqo reported first quarter 2018 revenue of US$103.3 million, compared to US$103.7 in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $83.8 million in the first quarter of 2017.

Revenues from polysilicon sales to external customers were US$95.6 million, compared to US$89.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $70.4 million in the first quarter of 2017. 

Daqo noted that the sequential increase in revenues from polysilicon was primarily due to higher polysilicon sales volumes which were partially offset by lower ASPs. 

Revenues from wafer sales were only US$7.6 million, compared to US$13.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and US$13.4 million in the first quarter of 2017. 

aqo said that the sequential decrease in revenues from wafer sales was primarily due to lower sales volumes and a decrease in ASPs.

Gross profit in the first quarter of 2018 was approximately US$46.2 million, compared to US$46.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and US$35.9 million in the first quarter of 2017. 

Gross margin was 44.8%, compared to 45.2% in the fourth quarter of 2017. The decrease in ASPs which were partially offset by a decrease in average polysilicon production cost, according to the company.

"I am pleased to announce another excellent quarter of operational and financial results in which we produced a record high 5,657 MT in polysilicon," commented Mr. Longgen Zhang, CEO of Daqo New Energy. "We also broke our record for external sales volume during the quarter by shipping 5,411 MT. This strong growth in production and external sales volumes is being driven by our continuing focus on improving manufacturing efficiency and maximizing overall output. Demand for our high-quality polysilicon products remained strong and allowed us to generate $103.3 million in revenue, a gross margin of 44.8%, $31.6 million in net income attributable to Daqo New Energy shareholders, $51.7 million in EBITDA, and an EBITDA margin of 50.0%."

Guidance

The company guided 5,600MT to 5,800MT of polysilicon production in the second quarter of 2018 with sales of approximately 5,300MT to 5,500MT.

Wafer sales volume is expected to be approximately 15.0 million to 20.0 million pieces for the second quarter of 2018. 
For the full year 2018, the company expects to produce approximately 22,000 to 23,000 MT of polysilicon, inclusive of the impact of our annual facility maintenance.

The company is also expanding polysilicon production to meet demand for high-purity monocrystalline wafer demand from customers such as LONGi Group.