Six Departments Take Action: Comprehensive Upgrade of Anti-Overcompetition in Photovoltaics, Industry Chain Expected to Reverse

On August 19, 2025, six departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Central Social Work Department, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Energy Administration jointly held a symposium on the photovoltaic industry. The aim was to further regulate the competitive order of the photovoltaic industry, marking a comprehensive upgrade of the anti-overcompetition campaign in photovoltaics with "extraordinary determination and exceptional efforts."

This meeting took place only 46 days after the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a separate photovoltaic symposium on July 3. In terms of participating departments, coverage of enterprises, and the focus of the agenda, it exceeded industry and market expectations.

Meeting Upgrade:

Multi-department Coordination Covering the Entire Industry Chain

Compared to the July 3 symposium which involved only 14 photovoltaic manufacturing enterprises and industry associations, this meeting significantly expanded departmental collaboration and participating entities. Newly added were the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (overseeing power generation central enterprises, influencing bidding implementation), the National Development and Reform Commission (price policy formulation and monitoring), the State Administration for Market Regulation (enforcement against unfair competition and participation in drafting the Price Law amendment), the National Energy Administration (industry policy and standards formulation), and the Central Social Work Department (coordinating party building and reform of industry associations). This formed a comprehensive governance synergy across the entire chain, directly targeting key aspects of industry governance.

Regarding participating enterprises, besides some manufacturing enterprise leaders who had attended the July symposium covering main industry chain segments, representatives from the "Five Major and Six Minor" power generation central enterprises were included for the first time. As power station investors and developers, whether these central enterprises will relax internal profit requirements to stimulate new demand has become a core focus for manufacturers and the market. However, according to senior executives attending the meeting, it was a confidential session with all participants signing non-disclosure agreements. Specific implementation details and timelines have not been disclosed, and the rumored "silicon material stockpiling plan" was not a key topic of discussion.

Four Core Measures:

Precisely Addressing Industry Pain Points

The meeting clarified four major action directions, directly targeting the core issues of "overcompetition" in the photovoltaic industry:

1. Strengthen Industry Regulation: Enhance project investment management, promote orderly exit of outdated capacity through market-oriented and legal means, and resolve the problem of excess capacity.

2. Curb Low-Price Disorderly Competition: Improve price monitoring and product pricing mechanisms, strictly crack down on sales below cost and false marketing, and rebuild price anchors for the industry.

3. Standardize Product Quality: Severely punish behaviors such as lowering quality control, falsely labeling product power, and infringing intellectual property rights, to maintain quality and safety standards.

4. Support Industry Self-discipline: Leverage organizations like the China Photovoltaic Industry Association to advocate fair competition, strengthen technology innovation leadership, and maintain a healthy industry ecosystem.

Policy Combination:

Laying the Groundwork for Multi-dimensional Anti-Overcompetition

In fact, since early July, anti-overcompetition policies in photovoltaics have been successively implemented, laying the foundation for this joint deployment by six departments:

1. On July 24, the "Amendment Draft to the Price Law of the People's Republic of China (for public consultation)" was released, focusing on identifying unfair pricing behaviors and legal responsibilities, targeting "overcompetition."

2. On August 1, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the 2025 special energy-saving inspection task list for the polysilicon industry, conducting inspections on 41 polysilicon enterprises nationwide (covering the entire industry), as polysilicon is the starting raw material of the photovoltaic industry chain and a key point in anti-overcompetition efforts.

3. On the foreign trade front, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products advocated boycotting exports below cost, and market rumors suggest that the cancellation of photovoltaic export tax rebates is imminent.

Market Dynamics:

Prices Rebound, Demand Side Becomes Key

Previously, influenced by strong expectations of anti-overcompetition, corporate self-discipline agreements, and some production cuts, prices of silicon materials and wafers rose sharply since early July, with prices of cells and modules also recovering. However, by mid-August, due to lack of demand-side support, the price increase trend gradually faced pressure.

Nevertheless, recent positive signals have emerged: China Resources Power's 3GW photovoltaic module centralized procurement opened bids on August 18, with average bid prices for all three segments exceeding 0.7 yuan/W, significantly higher than current domestic centralized (0.67 yuan/W) and distributed (0.69 yuan/W) project transaction averages. Leading companies' quotes were mostly above 0.73 yuan/W, indicating initial effectiveness of module price increases.

Industry analysts point out that the joint deployment by six departments on August 19 is expected to unblock demand-side bottlenecks and inject momentum for further price increases in the industry chain, especially in the module segment. The upcoming bid for China Huadian Corporation's 20GW annual module framework procurement project will be an important observation point for the smoothness of downstream price transmission. The market strongly expects further module price increases, with rumors suggesting prices may not be lower than 0.745 yuan/W, and some insiders optimistic about rises above 0.8 yuan/W.

Additionally, since July, price increases in the industry chain have spread from main materials to auxiliary materials such as photovoltaic glass, encapsulant films, and back sheets, showing upstream and downstream price linkage effects. Institutions like Huachuang Securities believe that with the implementation of supply-side policies and promotion of industry self-discipline, the supply-demand relationship in the photovoltaic industry will continue to improve, driving price and profit recovery across the entire industry chain. The industry is expected to gradually emerge from seven consecutive quarters of losses and usher in a turnaround in prosperity.