IHS says that after “another two tough quarters at the beginning of next year” the hard-pressed global manufacturing sector will see the decline in PV module prices slow, and then stop in the back half of 2013.

The huge capacity expansion that has characterised the last few years will halt, and “overcapacity will have less dramatic repercussions in 2013 than during this year, even if the issues will continue to be of concern", predicts IHS's PV Integrated Market Tracker Report, adding: “The players that remain should return to profitability”.

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