Wacker Chemie Tops Forecast As Polysilicon Price Steadies

German chemicals company Wacker Chemie beat second-quarter earnings forecasts and said a plunge in the price of polysilicon, which it supplies to the crisis-hit solar sector, had come to an end.

The price of polysilicon nearly halved in 2012 as years of government incentives in Germany and other countries artificially inflated demand for solar power equipment, thereby triggering massive oversupply and squeezing the margins of producers.

Wacker Chemie said the price of polysilicon had stabilized and was also encouraged by the settling of a trade dispute over the weekend between the European Union and China over solar cells and panels.

The company said its EBITDA fell 22% to €188 million in the second quarter.

That beat analysts' average forecast of €169 million in a Reuters poll. Second-quarter sales, however, were €1.15 billion euros, just below the average forecast of €1.18 billion, and Wacker Chemie trimmed its 2013 sales forecast to €4.5 billion, having previously targeted a figure close to last year's €4.63 billion.