[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] OCI has decided to halt domestic production as losses widened due to the sharp decline in international prices of solar polysilicon.
OCI announced on the 11th that its consolidated operating loss for last year was 180.7 billion KRW, turning to a deficit. During the same period, sales decreased by 16.3% to 2.0651 trillion KRW, and net loss turned to a deficit of 809.3 billion KRW.
The operating loss in the fourth quarter was 64.3 billion KRW, with the deficit widening compared to the previous year. Sales and net loss were recorded at 638.7 billion KRW and 662.6 billion KRW, respectively.
The biggest cause of the performance deterioration is the market downturn, which led to a drop in the selling price of the company's main product, solar polysilicon.
OCI explained, "There were impacts from poor performance due to the downturn in the solar industry market and recognition of asset impairment losses."
To improve business efficiency this year, OCI plans to stop solar polysilicon production at its Gunsan plant and convert the Gunsan plant into a semiconductor polysilicon production facility. Production of solar polysilicon will be handled at the Malaysia plant, aiming to reduce costs by more than 25%.
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