By Colleen Howe
BEIJING (Reuters) -A GCL Technology Holdings official signalled in a call with investors on Sunday that more information on a plan to restructure China’s polysilicon industry would be released soon.
“We believe that clearer information should come out soon about the reform, and we will have a better grasp of how our future cash flow will go,” GCL’s Chief Financial Officer Yang Wenzhong said in response to a question about a proposed acquisition fund. He added it was “not 100 percent certain” that reform would happen this year.
Yang said GCL may use some of its own cash to support the reform but did not yet know how much, so was being very careful in managing its funds.
A previous proposal by GCL to restructure the industry, of which management did not provide further details in the meeting, would see GCL and other top producers buy up and shut down about one-third of the industry’s capacity. Expectations are that would increase prices and the higher prices would be passed on to the loss-making solar panel industry downstream.
Analysts have said it is unclear where the money would come from in the highly indebted industry, although banks were likely to be one source of financing for the restructuring.
Yang also told investors GCL Technology would likely make a profit in August and September. Polysilicon spot prices have risen as Chinese regulators have signalled they would crack down on companies selling at overly low prices.
GCL’s losses for the first half of 2025, before the anti-price war movement, widened to 1.78 billion yuan ($249.6 million), the company reported on Friday.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)