Featured in Spotlight on quality – 04-2021

Polysilicon from Xinjiang: a balanced view

As of March, the United States and Europe were considering sanctions on polysilicon from Xinjiang, China, due to concerns over forced labor. The U.S. government has already barred entry for all cotton products and tomatoes from the region. However, as BloombergNEF analyst Jenny Chase writes, there is no evidence that forced labor is used in polysilicon production in Xinjiang – in fact, the economics might point against it.

By

pv magazine

07 Apr 2021

Image: Daqo New Energy

Most of the operating cost of polysilicon is electricity, with labor cost only a small component, so using unskilled and unhappy workers is likely to cost more in outages and waste than is saved. However, polysilicon producers based in China’s Xinjiang region are likely to be cooperating closely with the local government to gain access …

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