Oversupply and weak demand hit China's Trina Solar Q3 profits
China's Trina Solar reported a fall in gross profit to $125.6m for Q3 2016, compared to $138.2m in the same quarter last year. Revenue also fell to $741.1m, compared to $792.6m. CEO Jifan Gao said the slowdown was largely expected due to market oversupply and increasing inventory levels coupled with weak demand for solar modules in China. Total module shipments undershot the company's lower guidance level at 1361.2 MW compared to 1703.2 MW in Q3 2015. 

Trina Solar reported gross profit down to $125.6m in the third quarter, from $138.2m in the same period last year.



Revenue was also below 2015’s figure at $741.1m, compared with $792.6m.

Trina Solar chairman and chief executive Jifan Gao said: “Largely as expected, we had a slowdown in the third quarter as a result of an oversupply and increasing inventory levels of modules in the market, as well as weak demand in China.”Total module shipments were lower than the bottom end of the company’s guidance at 1361.2MW, compared with 1703.2MW in the third quarter of 2015.The company said it connected a total of 26MW of solar projects to the grid in China during the period.At the end of September, Trina Solar had a total of 1302.8MW downstream solar projects in operation, including 1267.6MW in China, 4.2 MW in the US and 31MW in Europe.