Shipments up but revenues flat YoY for JinkoSolar in Q1 2024

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
JinkoSolar machinery.
JinkoSolar shipped more than 21GW of products in the first quarter of 2024. Image: JinkoSolar

Leading Chinese module manufacturer JinkoSolar has published its financial results for the first quarter of 2024, which include over 21GW of shipments and total revenues of RMB23.04 billion (US$3.19 billion), a slight year-on-year (YoY) fall.

Both figures are a slight decline on the previous quarter, with total shipments, of both modules and cells and wafers, falling by 21.4% quarter-on-quarter, and total revenue declining 29.8% over the period.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Some of that can be attributed to seasonality, with shipments having fallen quarter-on-quarter during the first calendar quarter for the last five years as shown in our chart further down. However, the drop this year has been sharper than previous years.

Gross profit fell 33.1% between the final quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, reaching RMB2.74 billion (US$378.8 million), while gross margin also contracted slightly, from 12.5% to 11.9% in the most recent quarter.

Some of these struggles could be attributed to worsening relations between Chinese module manufacturers and their primary consumers, buyers in the US and Europe. JinkoSolar announced that more than 70% of its modules were shipped overseas in the first quarter of 2024, reflecting the importance of these sales to the company’s financial performance, and both European and American buyers have warned about the impacts of an oversupply of Chinese-made modules on their respective industries’ manufacturing sectors.

As shown in the graph below, the company’s module and wafer and cell shipments has increased dramatically over the last eight years, with the fourth quarter of 2023 representing the fourth consecutive quarter of shipment growth, a feat unlikely to be repeated.

In the first quarter of 2024, the company sold 51.2% more products compared to the first quarter of 2023 but total revenues were flat over this period, falling 1.2%. This is presumably down to the well-document fall in module prices.

Graph showing quarter-by-quarter sales volumes. Credit: PV Tech

Module shipments in particular were a highlight for the company, with sale volumes increasing 53.3% year-on-year to 19.99GW in the first quarter of this year. N-type modules accounted for nearly 80% of the company’s total module shipments, and nearly half of sales to the US, as the technology becomes an increasingly integral part of the company’s portfolio.

Earlier this year, JinkoSolar highlighted a number of n-type products at the World Future Energy Summit and Exhibition (WFES) in Abu Dhabi, and in February, the company unveiled a new n-type module that it notes to have been made with enough renewable energy to eliminate its carbon footprint.

The company plans to accelerate the phasing out of its older p-type products this year, and for n-type products to account for 90% of its total capacity by the end of the year.

Looking ahead, JinkoSolar notes that it expects to ship 24-26GW of modules in the second quarter of this year, leading to year-end module shipments of between 100-110GW. This would be a notable increase, considering the company shipped 78.52GW of modules in 2023. JinkoSolar is also optimistic about growth in the global solar sector more broadly, noting that it expects global PV demand to grow 25-30% in 2024, potentially driving more interest in n-type products.

The news follows the outbreak of a fire at a silicon wafer slicing and solar cell manufacturing facility in the Chinese province of Shanxi last Friday, 26 April. While there were no casualties at the factory, JinkoSolar noted that “the incident is expected to impact the company’s operations and financial results in 2024,” and that it would reallocate some of the factory’s wafer and cell production to other facilities to minimise disruption.

8 October 2024
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 8-9 October 2024 is our second PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The event in 2023 was a sell out success and 2024 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

June 28, 2024
The Net-Zero Industry Act will come into force starting from 29 June 2024 across all 27 member states of the EU.
June 28, 2024
The US generated 18,938GWh of electricity from utility-scale solar in April 2024, accounting for 6.1% of its total electricity generation.
June 28, 2024
AEMC has published a ‘final rule’ claiming it will “create a more clear and pragmatic grid connection process” and aid solar deployment.
June 27, 2024
EDP Renewables has signed PPAs with a US-based tech company to offer power through its 176MWp solar projects.
Sponsored
June 27, 2024
At SNEC 2024, PV Tech spoke with Abu Yang of Antaisolar, a leader in digital intelligent PV mounting systems and trackers.
June 27, 2024
The Asia-Pacific region stands to benefit from localised balance of system manufacturing in its solar industry, the IEEFA said.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
July 2, 2024
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
July 9, 2024
Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore
Upcoming Webinars
July 10, 2024
9am (BST) / 10am (CEST)
Solar Media Events
September 24, 2024
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
September 24, 2024
Singapore, Asia