On August 31, the European Commission unexpectedly announced in advance that it decided to end the EU anti-dumping and countervailing measures against solar photovoltaic cells and components in China at midnight on September 3.
The European Commission said in a statement that it will end the EU anti-dumping and countervailing measures imposed on solar photovoltaic cells and components since 2013. Therefore, the minimum import price (MIP) measures will officially expire at midnight on September 3.
“After considering the needs of producers and those who use or import solar panels, the Commission believes that it is in the EU's overall interest to invalidate these measures. The decision also takes into account the EU's new renewable energy targets,” the statement said.
The MIP is committed to take effect in December 2013 for a period of three years, including the minimum import prices and imports of crystalline silicon solar cells and modules imported from China. The agreement was negotiated and entered into as a compromise between the EU and China to replace anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
In the fall of 2015, the EU Prosun applied for the first expiration review of the commitment of the European Commission, which led to the extension of the MIP measures in March last year for 18 months.
In its statement today, the committee wrote: “In the March 2017 decision, the committee’s goal was to strike a balance between users, importers and EU solar panel manufacturers. The committee also wanted to ensure that EU consumers could approach The price of the global market price is purchased in the panel."
“After consultations with Member States, the Commission specifically decided to extend the MIP measures for 18 months as a compromise between competing interests. Over time, the level of these measures has gradually declined, bringing the prices of imports to the EU World market prices are gradually consistent."
The statement also mentioned that “the Commission noted that the market situation has not changed, so that there is reason to further expand the measures after the existing 18 months. Therefore, it rejected the EU industry’s requirements for the expiry review survey.”
Although the EU Prosun will be dissatisfied with this news, most industries around the world welcome this move.
Last week, James Watson, CEO of Pacific Power Europe, told pv magazine that it is clear that MIP may be cancelled. “SolarPower Europe has worked hard to eliminate these responsibilities because we believe this is a major obstacle to the growth of solar energy in Europe. We are pleased that the committee will follow the plan to cancel the measures on September 3, at the same time, we must now develop strong industrial policies. To enable solar energy manufacturing to develop in Europe."
At the same time, Taiwan's TrendForce said in July that if the MIP expires, Vietnamese and Thai suppliers will fill the gap left by Chinese exporters in the Indian market, which will once again focus on the EU market. In this case, competition will increase, thus lowering component prices and possibly stimulating the growth of non-subsidized PV projects.
Disclaimer: This article comes from the Sohu number information publishing platform 2018-09-01
--------------------END--------------------
