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Wacker to Buy Fesils Holla Silicon Metal Smelter
2010-06-12

In what could be the next realignment of the silicon industry, Wacker Chemie announced last week that it plans to buy Fesils Hollas 50,000-mtpy, four-furnace silicon smelter for around 65-million. The 50,000 mtpy represents about one third of Wackers current annual silicon metal requirements. Wacker has been a long-time buy of Fesils silicon metal. This is a change of strategy for Wacker. For its silicones and solar-energy sector, Wacker has bought silicon. It has started to produce polysilicon in Germany and plans to build a polysilicon smelter in the US, though no work has begun on that project. However, in 2009, reports surfaced that Wacker was looking to build a 70,000-mtpy silicon smelter in Tasmania with a decision on that facility expected by the first quarter of 2010. When nothing happened, analysts thought Wacker was reconsidering its downstream plans.

Now Wacker joins Dow Corning, Shin-Etsu and Bluestar with their own silicon smelters. DCC has its two silicon smelters in Brazil, as well as its Simcala plant in the US and a 49% interest in GSMs Alloy, WV, silicon smelter, but even with those smelters, it is forced to buy silicon. Shin-Etsu owns the Simcoa smelter in Australia and is in the process of doubling the smelters output, while Chinas Bluestar Silicones, with the fourth largest siloxanes capacity, is adding 25,000-50,000 mtpy of new silicon metal capacity in China; the company already has about 10,000 mtpy of silicon smelting capacity in China

The dynamic might have changed for Wacker when the EC decided to keep dumping duties on Chinese silicon in May, albeit at 19% instead of 49%. Also, Chinese silicon smelters are problematic suppliers and many analysts believe in the long term China can move from being a major exporter to either a small exporter or even a net importer of silicon as its silicones and solar energy segments grow.

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