German chemical group Wacker Chemie posted new gross sales and earnings information in 2022 because the polysilicon division benefited from robust demand and better costs.
With gross sales reaching €2.28 billion (US$2.47 billion) in 2022, the polysilicon enterprise division elevated its annual gross sales by 49% year-on-year. General, the corporate reached document gross sales of €8.2 billion in 2022.
Wacker’s polysilicon division benefited from “significantly good costs for solar-grade silicon” it mentioned in an announcement, with costs for electronic-grade additionally rising year-over-year and the share of the product in complete gross sales quantity rising additional.
The division elevated its earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 25% to €820 million (US$732 million), from €655 million in 2021.
“All of our enterprise divisions contributed to final yr’s robust gross sales development,” mentioned Wacker Chemie CEO Christian Hartel. “Though demand slowed noticeably in some buyer sectors within the second half of the yr, we achieved considerably increased costs for our merchandise than in 2021. That additionally helped us to offset sharp price will increase, particularly for power, but in addition for uncooked supplies and logistics.”
The polysilicon producer was amongst a listing of PV business stakeholders calling the EU for measures to assist a aggressive home European upstream photo voltaic PV worth chain earlier this yr.
Whereas Wacker primarily produces polysilicon in Germany and to a lesser extent within the US, many of the materials is shipped to Asia, as reported by PV Tech Premium final yr.
General, the group’s EBITDA reached €2.09 billion in 2022, a 35% improve from the €1.54 billion recorded in 2021, with its working efficiency lifted by increased costs and ongoing effectivity measures, Wacker mentioned.
Nonetheless, stock drawdowns by prospects in This autumn had a noticeable impact on the German chemical group’s gross sales and earnings, which was most notable within the silicones phase, in line with Hartel, including that China’s home demand was under its potential resulting from pandemic-related restrictions.
“In quite a few utility areas, the weakening economic system is already affecting buyer order traits. We see indicators of a slowdown, significantly within the development business, but in addition with silicones in different industries. On the whole, many shoppers are working down their inventories and presently stay cautious, though they count on demand to select up once more in the middle of the yr,” mentioned Hartel about present buying and selling situations.
