China exported 7.79 billion solar cells in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 38.2%, according to the latest date from Chinese customs.
“The export value of PV products has exceeded RMB200 billion for four consecutive years, setting a new record high,” said Daliang Lv, spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs and director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis.
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Separately, market research firm InfoLink has also released an analysis report based on customs data, which pointed out that from January to December 2024, China exported a total of 235.93GW of PV modules, an increase of 13% compared to 207.99GW in the same period in 2023.
In December, China exported approximately 16.63GW of PV modules, a 9% increase compared with the 15.2GW in November. The ranking of countries importing PV modules from China was Brazil, the Netherlands, India, Saudi Arabia and Spain. The total monthly imports of these major countries accounted for about 42% of the global market.
Looking at the global module market in 2024, InfoLink indicated that compared with 2023, the only region experiencing a decrease in 2024 was the European market, which saw a 7% year-on-year decline in imports. In contrast, other regions all experienced increases, with the Middle East market growing by 99%, the African market by 43%, the Asia-Pacific market by 26% and the Americas by 10%.
Specifically, from January to December 2024, the cumulative shipment to the European market was about 94.4GW, a 7% decrease from the 101.48GW in the same period in 2023.
The cumulative shipment to the Middle East market was about 28.79GW, a 99% increase from the 14.46GW in the same period in 2023. The cumulative shipment to the African market was about 11.36GW, a 43% increase from the 7.94GW in the same period in 2023.
The cumulative shipment to the Asia-Pacific market was about 68.11GW, an increase of 26% compared to 53.93 GW in the same period of 2023. Among the countries in this region, Pakistan had the highest share of module shipments, importing around 16.91GW of PV modules, up 127% from 7.47GW in the same period in 2023.
The cumulative shipment to the Americas was about 33.28GW, an increase of 10% compared to 30.18 GW in the same period in 2023. Brazil accounted for 68% of the region’s total imports, followed by Chile at 7%, with imports totalling 2.48 GW of modules.
