Adjust Sic Market Structure to Tackle Problems

Silicon carbide is an important raw material of the 3rd generation semiconductor materials. Silicon carbide market turned weak since the beginning of 2014. Although there is sufficient supply of first-grade silicon carbide, the weak market demand has led to price depreciation for twice, and the overall price takes on an decreasing trend. On the contrary, second-grade and third-grade silicon carbide are not adequate to meet the market demand. In the first quarter of 2015, the price rose slightly.

A great number of silicon carbide manufacturers in China begin to expand export approach to consume excessive production capacity under great pressure. According to statistics of import and export from China Customs, from Jan 2014 to Sept. 2014, China's silicon carbide export volume was 250327.15 tons, which increased 18.8%. The export value was approximately $276,565,000, which increased 19.2%. Among China's exporting countries and regions, Japan, America, south Korea, and Taiwan rank the top. However, influenced by export tariff, currently, most of China's silicon carbide companies don't have independent export rights. They usually depend on foreign trade companies to develop foreign trade business. Therefore, silicon carbide export cannot be an effective method to solve production capacity problem. Take the major silicon carbide place of origin - Gansu Province as example, due to overstock, over half of the silicon carbide companies have stopped production.

China's silicon carbide market will continue to be sluggish in year 2015, there are two methods to tackle the problem. Firstly, emphasis should be put on companies' production structure. Secondly, select the superior and eliminate the inferior based on production structure adjustment. Fortunately, great progress has been made in terms of development in new application fields of silicon carbide, such as the newly developed silicon carbide wafer can be used as LED solid lightening and high frequency device. What's more, cellphones and lap-tops bias light market is likely to pose an ever-increasing demand for silicon carbide.