17 August 2018. Market intelligence firm PV InfoLink today released their latest module shipment ranking for first half of 2018. Chinese manufacturers continue to dominate and mono-crystalline module shipment accelerated.
LONGi Solar is ranked No. 1 in China domestic market shipment in 1H-2018, retaining its market leadership of 2017. GCL Integration, Jinko, JA Solar, Suntech, Talesun, CSI, Risen, Trina Solar and Yingli follows.
In global market shipment of 1H-2018, Jinko Solar leads with shipment of 4.8 GW, followed by JA Solar, LONGi Solar, CSI, Trina Solar, Hanwha Q Cells, Risen, GCL Integration, Suntech and Talesun. In pace with the rapid increase of mono-crystalline products, LONGi Solar climbed from No. 7 in 2017 to 3rd place in the H1-2018 ranking.
LONGi Solar moving up 4 places in the ranking within 6 months can be attributed to its continuous capacity expansions in China and overseas production, as well as its rapidly growing brand awareness. The company further secured its No.1 position in the China’s domestic market, amongst strong competition.
PV InfoLink also revealed the market size has grown in the first half of 2017, with module demand about 45 GW. Further, the agency estimated shipments of the top 10 manufacturers shared 67% of total demand, significantly higher than the 55% share in 2017.
Mono-crystalline products are quickly gaining recognition and popularity in China because of their inherent benefits of better cost performance and this trend is rapidly spreading outside of China. Matched with keen competitive pricing of mono cells and modules, PV products based on mono-crystalline technology is estimated to capture 47% of the total market in 2018 and projected to grow to around 60% in the following few years. As a frame of reference, mono-crystalline product share was 28% in 2017.