Modules accounted for 388MW of total shipments for the threemonths to 31 March, the Shanghai-based company said.

At the same stage last year JA Solar made a net loss of $33.6m. Revenue jumped 36% on the year to $366m.

Chiefexecutive Baofang Jin partly attributed the company’s second straight quarterlyprofit to steady sales in Japan.

Thecompany expects demand in China to pick up in the second half of this year,when a number of state-backed utility projects start development.

JA Solar maintained its 2014 shipment target of 2.7GW