Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you, sir. (Operator instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Pierre MacCagno with Needham.
Pierre MacCagno – Needham
Congratulations on the quarter, Craig and Francis.
Francis Kramer
Thanks, Pierre.
Pierre MacCagno – Needham
Question on tellurium, I’m wondering if you’re selling any tellurium into the solar market?
Francis Kramer
I think we could say, ?Yes, we are.? It’s on an indirect basis out of our PRM subsidiary. We sell to an account who is a quite a supplier of that into the thin-film solar cell side of that market.
Pierre MacCagno – Needham
Do you see that growing significantly going forward, and also are you planning to maybe expand the capacity of tellurium?
Francis Kramer
We are working hard right now to just improve on our yields and our processing. We are trying to get it more under control with the raw materials we’re bringing in to be more efficient and to get that tuning – let's just stay tuned up and reduce our cost. So capacity, yes, we’re moving up slowly, but our bigger effort is to get more efficient with what we are producing. Tellurium is about a 400-metric ton market, and we have the share that we’ve had which we have enjoyed prior to us buying that business. And I think right now we are just trying to get it tuned up.
The new demand for tellurium is just as you said into the photovoltaic and that’s coming along nicely. It has had an effect in the price on tellurium raised – went up for quite a bit in the January to February time period, and then it fell back about 10% to 15% in the quarter. We just completed, so this additional demand for tellurium due to photovoltaics had an effect on us already with higher prices.
Pierre MacCagno – Needham
I mean positive for you in that sense?
Francis Kramer
Yes, it’s okay, because we buy all our raw materials from refiners who sell their sludges and we pay for the content of tellurium in it at the higher market price, but then we sell at the higher market price also.
Pierre MacCagno – Needham
I see. And so, just to have an idea of how large is your share here, out of the 400 metric tons?
Francis Kramer
I’d really rather not say that. It’s a very small market as you might sense, so there are only handful of producers around there and it’s very competitive, but we’re going to work to get a bigger share.
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