Chinese wafers stable during Golden Week

Chinese wafer activity slowed as the country entered the early-October Golden Week. According to the OPIS Global Solar Markets Report of Oct. 6, FOB China N-type M10 and 210R wafers held flat at $0.149 and $0.153 per piece, with inventories estimated at around 25 GW.

This price is not set in China alone. Proclamation 11052, published in the Federal Register of Aug. 11, 2026, records that the US share of global polysilicon capacity fell below 2% in 2024, and places polysilicon and the derivatives listed in its Annexes I and II under a minimum import price program from Dec. 4.

Equipment buyers now face two quotations. For US-bound volumes the floor is regulatory and FOB China loses its reference function. In Brazil the exposure remains Chinese, now with an October polysilicon cut of about 12.9% forecast by the Silicon Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.

The window is contractual. Signing Chinese-origin wafers, cells or modules before December anchors price while the quotation is still a market one, provided the escalation clause follows a published index rather than a supplier notice.