This week the polysilicon price declined 5% to $30 per kilogram, so about $80 per kW, as of the Silicon Industry Branch’s Wednesday price update. In contrast, wafer prices increased 4% in a March 3rd price update from LONGi – and in that week polysilicon had declined by a little over 1%. LONGi attributed the wafer price increase to a shortage of the high-purity quartz crucibles which are used – and expended – in the Czochralski process which turns polysilicon into ingots ready to be cut into wafers. Steep price rises for crucibles were already reached in 2022, with the stock price of the largest Chinese manufacturer tripling from April to July, but until now this was always overshadowed by…