Leading Chinese module manufacturer JinkoSolar has published its financial results for the third quarter of the year, which include the shipments of over 23.8GW of modules, pushing its global module deliveries over the 280GW threshold.
The company’s total shipments reached 25.9GW, of which 23.84GW was modules and 2.1GW was cells and wafers. This is the first time that sales of the latter products have exceeded 2GW in a single quarter. These growth figures are up 2.3% compared with the second quarter of this year, and up 14.7% compared with the third quarter of 2023.
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The graph below compares the company’s third-quarter module, wafer and cell sales with those of previous quarters and demonstrates that, as happened in 2022 and 2023, 2024 has seen sales volumes increase sequentially. The company’s revenue reached RMB25.1 billion (US$3.5 billion), up 1.9% quarter-on-quarter but down 23% year-on-year, perhaps triggered by the ongoing downturn in the manufacturing sector, with many key markets suffering from an oversupply of modules that has cut into the profits of module manufacturers.
Jinko’s gross margin reflects this environment. Its margin reached 15.7% in the third quarter of 2023, up from 11.1% in Q2 but down from 19.3% in the third quarter of last year.
Much of the company’s sales were in China, with 20.9GW of installations in its home country, up 26.9% from the second quarter and 32.4% year-on-year. JinkoSolar noted that this increase reversed a decline in sales in the previous two months. Recently announced plans to build a 10GW module factory in Saudi Arabia perhaps suggesting that, in future, Jinko will look to expand its growing presence beyond China.
JinkoSolar also announced that n-type modules accounted for around 90% of its total module shipments globally in the third quarter, as it refocuses its attention on the technology. Its n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules in commercial production reached a power conversion efficiency of 26.2%, and in June the company announced that its larger 182mm TOPCon modules had achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25.42%.
Looking ahead, the company expects to sell 22.3-32.3GW of modules; its record for quarterly module shipments is 26.3GW, achieved in the fourth quarter of 2023. JinkoSolar expects its annual module shipments to be between 90GW and 100GW, and any figure in this range would be a record for the company.
“While earnings were under pressure across the industry during the quarter, we achieved relatively outstanding results leveraging our leading position in n-type TOPCon technology, competitive products, as well as our global sales and manufacturing networks,” said JinkoSolar chairman and CEO Xiande Li. “Imbalance between supply and demand led to continuous price decline in the end market, causing losses to almost the whole industrial chain.”
