Foreign exchange losses have become a common headache for the nation’s major solar-cell makers and concerns over raw material supplies like polysilicon wafers continue, companies said at a forum organized by the GRETAI Securities Market yesterday.
“We have plans to adjust our US dollar assets into other currency assets and use foreign currency forward contracts to hedge risks, Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) spokesman Jacy Chen (陳家淇) said at the forum.
Motech, the nation’s No. 1 solar-cell maker, said on April 11 it had lost NT$400 million (US$13.2 million) in the first quarter as a result of the NT dollar appreciation.
PHOTO: FAN CHIA-YU, TAIPEI TIMES
Motech Industries said its target output this year was 280 megawatts and expected this number to grow to 400 megawatts next year, chairman and chief executive officer Simon Tsuo (左元淮) said.
Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (中美晶) reported a loss of between NT$70 million and NT$72 million in the first quarter because of the strengthening NT dollar.
The company’s net profit was NT$384 million in the first quarter, down 28 percent quarter-on-quarter, but up 28 percent year-on-year.
“Every NT$1 appreciation against the US dollar will have an impact on revenue and gross profit by 3 percent and 1.5 percent respectively,” said Lu Ming-kuang (盧明光), chairman and chief executive officer of Sino-American Silicon Products.
E-Ton Solar Tech Co (益通光能), the nation’s second-largest solar-cell maker, however, incurred no losses in foreign exchange for the first quarter, company president Tsai Chin-yao (蔡進耀) said.
He also dismissed the idea that the global shortage of raw materials threatened the firm’s operations this year, as the company had secured sufficient silicon.
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