As the pandemic continues in Europe and America, there are still problems in the supply chains of several sectors of the economy, including photovoltaics.
According to PV-Infolink, freight rates for merchant ships have finally increased significantly, with increases of 100% for the CCFI and BDI indices, and even 300% in the case of transport from China to the West. According to CNBC, fares from East Asia to Northern Europe were up 264% year-on-year in December and 145% from Asia to the west coast of the United States.
Naturally, the situation also affects photovoltaics in terms of prices and demand. The shortage of containers is expected to last until the end of the first quarter, and while the Chinese yuan continues to strengthen against the dollar, the prices of PV products in markets other than China will remain high, slowing demand. As a result, not many new orders have been seen lately and PV-Infolink expects demand to weaken further after Chinese New Year.
At the same time, China’s trade surplus is another factor in the shortage of containers, as in December the country’s exports increased by 18.1% year on year and the surplus reached 78.1 billion. dollars as a result of faster growth.
