Making a significant effort to meet customer demand in Europe before EU anti-dumping duties are imposed on Chinese PV module producers, Trina Solar’s first quarter 2013 revenue was dominated by sales to Europe, most notably in the UK and Germany.
Trina Solar reported first quarter 2013 revenue of US$260.2 million, a decrease of 14.0% from the fourth quarter of 2012. However, Germany accounted for 24.6% of sales in the quarter, up from 12.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The UK accounted for 22.9% of first quarter 2013 sales, up from only 4.6% of sales in the previous quarter. The UK is experiencing a boom in utility-scale PV projects and has been dependent on lower-cost Chinese produced modules for meeting project ROI (Return on Investment) requirements, due to the cut in Renewable Obligation support.
The company expects sales diversification to continue away from Europe in 2013, with key emerging markets such as China expected to account for 20% of revenue this year, up from 12.9% in 2012.
Other emerging markets such as Japan are expected to generate 9% of sales in 2013, compared to 3% of revenue in 2012. India is expected to generate 6% of sales in 2013, while India was not represented separately in percentage terms charts provided in Trina Solar’s first quarter conference call supporting presentation. Markets such as Australia are expected to increase year-on-year by 0.9%.
Management noted in the call to discuss financial results that Europe as whole would still account for around 40% of revenue in the second quarter of 2013.
However, key markets such as the US are set to account for around 17% of revenue in 2013, down from 25.5% in 2012.