Metal Silicon Producers Halt Operations Across Seven Chinese Provinces

July 7, 2025 – According to data from cnfeol.com, all metal silicon production facilities across seven key producing provinces in China – Fujian, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Hunan, Henan, Guangxi, and Hubei – are currently idled, with near-term reactivation appearing unlikely. Numerous plants are reportedly preparing for prolonged shutdowns or permanent exit from the market.

This collective suspension affects 59 submerged arc furnace plants within these provinces, representing a combined designed annual capacity of approximately 930,000 metric tons. This accounts for roughly 10% of China's total metal silicon production capacity.

While the current scale of this idled capacity is insufficient to significantly alleviate the prevailing overcapacity in the metal silicon market, the concentrated nature of these shutdowns underscores ongoing market consolidation and structural shifts within the industry. The affected operations, primarily characterized by elevated electricity costs and distance from key raw material sources, faced higher smelting costs and diminishing competitive advantages in an intensely contested marketplace.

With fundamental supply-demand imbalances persisting and market competition remaining acute, the resumption of operations at these specific facilities in the near term remains improbable, cnfeol.com reported.