India Turns Up Heat on Solar With New Probe
There are a couple of big new developments in the solar space, one from India that bodes poorly for China’s embattled sector, while the other coming the US seems like a diversion that won’t have much impact on an ongoing anti-dumping investigation. All of these developments have the catch phrase “anti-dumping” in common, indicating that perhaps China should wake up to the fact that it probably does provide generous subsidies to its solar cell makers, hurting competitors in other markets, and should take steps to end the practice rather than constantly denying the allegations. In the latest developments in this increasingly global war of words, India has joined the US and Europe by opening its own probe into unfair subsidies by Beijing for its increasingly embattled field of solar cell makers, which have rapidly risen in the last 5 years to now supply over half the world’s output. (English article) I personally don’t know how important India is in terms of global demand for solar cells, but considering its size and demand for clean power to help fuel its economic growth it does seem like any ruling against China in this latest probe will only deal a further setback to China’s solar cell makers, which are already suffering through their industry’s worst-ever downturn that has seen nearly everyone slip into the red. (previous post) Meantime, the other major development comes from the US, where a court has ruled that current laws do not allow the US Commerce Department to impose anti-dumping punitive tariffs on products from non-market economies like China. (English article) The ruling, which will certainly be appealed, would mean the Commerce Department has no power to levy punitive tariffs against China’s solar cell makers, despite its recent preliminary finding that those manufacturers are unfairly subsidized by Beijing. (previous post) While this court ruling looks like a victory for China and its solar cell makers, no one is really celebrating as the decision will definitely be appealed, a process that could take a year or more; and even if the decision was ultimately upheld, most predict the US Congress will quickly act to change the laws to empower the Commerce Department to levy punitive tariffs against any industry that gets unfair support from its government, regardless of whether it’s a market economy. As always, my advice to Beijing is to move quickly to diffuse this crisis rather than waiting for market forces to do their work, which could deal a huge blow to not only China’s industry but the entire global solar power sector.
Bottom line: A new unfair subsidy probe by India is a further setback for China’s solar sector, while a US court ruling that appears to help Chinese manufacturers is largely meaningless.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Beijing Boosts Solar In Latest Mixed Signal 中国扩张太阳能行业发展 解决与美争端立场混乱
◙ China Retaliates With Own US Solar Probe 中国启动对美可再生能源补贴调查
◙ Solar Slips Squarely Into the Red 太阳能行业陷入全线亏损
