News Article
Tellurium price set to rocket and threaten CdTe solar industry
Reduced copper production coupled with the application of new alternative technologies of copper extraction are both affecting the availability of tellurium.
The tellurium market faces a whole host of challenges at the moment. Being a by-product of smelted copper it is highly dependent on the trends in this huge market.
As supply is tightening, the price for the material is skyrocketing. According to Merchant Research and Consulting, a number of market forecasts say that the price of tellurium is set to rise through the coming 2-3 years. Due to reduced copper production and novel alternatives to copper extraction, the availability of tellurium is declining.
On the positive side, there are a number of alternatives to tellurium which could help counteract supply shortages. On the other hand, end-use marketers report that none of these replacements are good enough.
The potential rise in demand for tellurium could well come from developments in thin film solar cell CdTe technology and affect its performance in the future.
