By Renewable Energy Focus staff

Combining this with falling selling prices and high solar wafers and silver prices, Q-Cells’ EBIT loss widened 14% to €10.6m. The net loss, however, shrank 11% to €41.1m.

“Despite the currently challenging market environment, we are convinced that we are on the right path with our strategic transformation,” says Q-Cell’s CEO Nedim Cen.

The solar market is still highly dependent on the Europe core markets of Germany, Italy and France. Growth in North America and Asia is steady, but not enough to make up for the weak demand in Europe.

“Despite the events in Fukushima and the intensive discussions in Germany about an energy turnaround, structural changes on the international solar markets are not evident over the short term. We will continue working diligently to improve our technology and production processes, optimising the cost of our products and applications in order to offer precisely tailored high-yield solutions to our international customers,” Cen adds.

2011 uncertainty

For the full year, Q-Cells says the market uncertainties make predictions difficult, but that the company could reach same revenue levels as in 2010 if demand increases. The EBIT is expected to be positive, but no figures were offered.