On Monday 11 September, a Community source confirmed to EUROPE that the European Commission is expected to decide "in the coming weeks" to reduce the minimum prices for imports of solar panels from China, as the member states did not show any opposition to the Commission's proposal on this at the meeting of the anti-dumping committee on 8 September.
Since 2013, imports into the EU of solar cells and panels from China have been subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures – which were extended for 18 months on 1 March and are subject to an intermediary re-assessment that will enable the level of duties to be cut progressively depending on the reductions in costs in the solar industry.
The EU has imposed these measures since December 2013 as part of an amicable agreement made between the Commission and Chinese government in summer 2013. Their agreement is based on a price commitment – the respect of a minimum price – that enables cooperating Chinese solar panel exporters to avoid heavy anti-dumping duties of nearly 50% (see EUROPE 11447).
As part of the re-assessment of these measures, the Commission has proposed a gradual cut in the minimum import price, based on a reduction each quarter, while ensuring a higher price for monocrystalline models – a sector in which Europe has begun to specialise and for which it wants to ensure greater market protection.
Overall, the minimum prices would, however, remain slightly above the global market prices that guarantee protection. The reduction also enables a better balance between European companies that produce solar cells and panels in Europe, and those that depend on the imports of these products to develop their final goods, EUROPE's source stated.
The European association of solar panel manufacturers EU ProSun was at the origin of the complaint that resulted in the EU anti-dumping measures against Chinese solar cells and panels. EU ProSun included the German manufacturer Solar World that took a lead in the action and is now bankrupt. EU ProSun now warns that a cut in minimum prices would lead to the disappearance of jobs and investment in Europe and would offer a key technology to China.
Representing actors in the solar industry that depend on imports and are opposed to the anti-dumping duties, SolarPower Europe supports a variable minimum price but does not believe that the timetable for gradual price cuts set by the Commission takes account of the reductions in market price since the start of the year. The association says that this measure would hamper investment in solar energy in Europe. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)