EN 
PT_BR 
The photovoltaic market, and other sectors of the economy, are suffering from the increase of up to 650% in the price of international freight in the last two months. Experts point out that the main factors for this increase are the resumption of the post-pandemic production chain and the approach of the holiday in China, celebrated between October 1st and 7th (Golden Week).
This scenario has already caused financial impacts on the photovoltaic market. “International sea freight increased from US$ 700.00 per container to US$ 5,000.00 due to high demand during the period. As, on average, 600 modules can fit in a container, there was a change from US$ 1.2 per module to US$ 8.33 each”, reported Fernando Castro, sales director at Risen Energy Brasil.
“In addition, other costs apply, such as import taxes and PIS-Cofins. With this, I estimate an additional 30%. Thus, we have an increase from US$ 1.56 to US$ 10.82 per module”, added Castro.
According to Livia Verjovsky, commercial director at WM Trading, the increase is explained by overbooking due to ship omissions that occurred in August. As a result, space availability fell to approximately 50% of the previous capacity.
“This reduction in space, combined with the resumption of imports by companies, aimed at end-of-year sales, in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic, were the opportunities seen by shipping companies to apply current values. The second semester, historically, is already marked by an increase in freight costs compared to the first. However, this year we have seen values above normal for the time”, explained Livia.
“For now, there is no forecast for the normalization of services and no shipowner has announced extra loaders to alleviate the space situation. Unfortunately, the current situation has been unfavorable for the photovoltaic sector since a large part of the inputs are imported. However, the trend is downward after Chinese New Year, when we will return to more reasonable values”, added Livia.
Eudes Silveira, director of Port Trade, explains that the price of sea freight, the main logistics used by the solar sector, has a history of ups and downs at certain periods of the year. “Historically, the rise in freight prices precedes Chinese holidays, such as those celebrated in October and January. Furthermore, it is common for there to be an increase in shipping between August and September due to end-of-year shopping, as businesses begin to prepare their stocks for Christmas sales from October onwards”, he explained.
“Every beginning of the year it is common for freight prices to rise after the Chinese holiday, celebrated in January, and remain the same until SNEC, China's main technology fair, normally held in April. Two weeks after the event, prices rise again due to the demand for the launched products. This pace continues until June, which is when the cost returns to normal levels, where the price is between US$ 1,500.00 and US$ 2,000.00”, added Silveira.
He also highlighted that the price of sea freight charged between US$ 400 and US$ 700, recorded this year, was atypical and occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as there was a shortage in the production chain. “Freight reached a level between US$ 400.00 and US$ 700.00 due to the pandemic due to lack of merchandise”.
High freight rates impact final prices
With the increase in the cost of international shipping, distributors of photovoltaic equipment in Brazil say that prices are also likely to rise. The main factor highlighted is the recovery of the economy, which impacts the entire global production chain.
“Unfortunately, for Q4 [fourth quarter], the impacts will be passed on to integrators and consequently to the end consumer.
After all, the dollar rose by 10%, deliveries from China have been delayed and shipowners are transshipping. All of this impacts more costs”, said Aldo Teixeira, founder and president of the photovoltaic equipment distributor Aldo Solar.
Who also stated that prices should affect the pockets of integrators and the end consumer was Leandro Martins, president and founder of the distributor Ecori Solar Energy. “Module prices are rising and the justification given is the slowness in production due to stricter safety standards and a lack of solar panel components, which also saw an increase in dollar prices. There's no way to hold it back.
The Ex-tariffs, published recently, are no longer viable as the increase in the exchange rate goes beyond the maximum allowed CIF value, there is no way to use this tax reduction. Not to mention the increase in national components such as cables and aluminum, for example”, in addition to international freight, which has increased by more than 500% in recent months, highlighted Martins.
Another difficulty experienced by distributors, according to Aldo Teixeira, is delays in deliveries. “On the one hand, the exporter comments that he has no equipment, no transporter to take him to the port and no container available. Shipowners say, in some cases, that they are skipping port. There have been two cases in recent weeks. The ships are supposed to have a port-to-port route and, halfway through, they simply change the route and unload our containers at the port of Santos, which is far away for us. As a result, we had to transship, delaying deliveries by around 14 to 21 days” reported Aldo.
The difficulty in logistics was also highlighted by Camila Nascimento, commercial director of Win Renewable Energy. “It has been difficult to find shipping windows and many orders are expected to be delayed for more than a month”, highlighted Camila.
Therefore, as indicated by Eudes Silveira and Livia Verjovsky, the expectation is that the situation will begin to normalize from November onwards.
“After this Chinese holiday, in the first week of October, there is a tendency for the price to decline. I also leave a message that Aldo always kept six weeks of sales in stock to support an acceleration. But, during the month of October, this technical stock reserve drops to two weeks. However, in November and December an average available stock is already guaranteed for six weeks of sales and, with this, we will meet all the necessary market demand”, concluded Aldo.
