(Yicai) June 26 -- Longi Green Energy’s market capitalization has lost 21 percent of its value in the past month, amid growing pessimism in the market that the Chinese photovoltaic module producer’s performance in the second quarter could be worse that what it was in the first, as the price of polysilicon, the raw material used to make solar panels, continues to tumble.

Longi’s share price closed up 1.5 percent at CNY14.66 (USD2.02) today, after sinking to a new low yesterday, giving it a market capitalization of CNY111.1 billion (USD15.3 billion). This is a dive of 21 percent month on month and 36 percent from a year earlier.

If the company’s share price drops another 10 percent, its market value will be under CNY100 billion (USD13.7 billion). This is half what it was 10 months ago. And before that the company’s market value crashed to CNY200 billion from CNY300 billion in just 90 days.

In the first quarter, Longi logged the worst performance among the country’s four largest solar panel makers, racking up losses of CNY2.3 billion (USD324 million), its first quarterly loss in 11 years. While revenue plunged 37.6 percent year on year to CNY17.6 billion (USD2.4 billion).

And the firm’s results in the second quarter could be even worse as the price of polysilicon continues to tumble with no end in sight. The price of solar panels is now below CNY0.80 (USD0.11) per watt.

Longi has been trying to shore up its stock price through share buy backs. From June 1 to June 24, the company repurchased CNY45.7 million (USD6.3 million) worth of stock, amounting to 2.8 million shares, the Xi’an based firm said on June 24. This is just half the value of the repurchase plan it announced in March, with a total amount of CNY96.6 million. But it does little to stem the plunging market value.

And the outlook looks grim, industry analysts told Yicai. Once prices start to edge up, factories will ramp up production and prices will once again be under pressure. As overcapacity continues to clear, the balance between supply and demand in the PV industrial chain, as well as pricing, are very hard to determine.

Editor: Kim Taylor