The United States officially launched a new round of anti-dumping and anti-dumping investigations on photovoltaic products in four Southeast Asian countries

Interface News Reporter |

Less than a month after receiving the application, the United States decided to restart the anti-dumping investigation on photovoltaic products in four Southeast Asian countries.

On May 16, the China Trade Remedy Information Network announced that in response to an application submitted by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee on April 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the launch of an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation into crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, whether assembled into modules or not.

The above cases relate to products under U.S. customs codes 8541.40.6025, 8541.42.0010, 8541.40.6015 and 8541.43.0010 and certain products under 8541.40.6015 and 8541.43.0010. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is expected to issue a preliminary determination on industrial injury in this case by June 10, 2024 at the latest.

If the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determines that the import of the products in question poses a substantial injury or threat of substantial injury to the U.S. domestic industry, the U.S. Department of Commerce will continue to investigate the case and is expected to issue a preliminary countervailing duty determination on July 18 and a preliminary antidumping determination on October 1, 2024.

On May 16, module leader Trina Solar (688599.SH) responded to Jiemian News that the impact of the US anti-dumping and anti-dumping investigation on it depends on the progress of subsequent events.

The company said that it has been actively promoting the global layout, and has projects under construction or reserve production capacity in the United States, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, which can enhance the competitiveness of overseas markets on the one hand, and strengthen overseas risk resistance on the other hand.

"Enterprises cannot control the risks of overseas trade policies, but in the face of the same policy environment, enterprises with full global layout and localized operation capabilities will always maintain a leading position." Trina Solar weighed.

According to U.S. statistics, in 2023, the U.S. will import about US$2.3 billion from Cambodia, US$1.9 billion from Malaysia, US$3.7 billion from Thailand, and US$4 billion from Vietnam.

According to the official data disclosed by the U.S. International Trade Administration, the so-called dumping duty rate in Cambodia is 125.37%, Malaysia 81.22%, Thailand and Vietnam 70.36% and 271.28% respectively. The dumping rate is the ratio of the dumping margin to the dutiable value.

The U.S. anti-dumping investigation into solar products in Southeast Asia originated on April 24. The petition was filed by the U.S. Solar Manufacturing Alliance Trade Commission and involves companies including U.S. solar manufacturers Convalt Energy, First Solar, Meyer Burger, Mission Solar, Qcells, REC Silicon and startup Swift Solar. The committee was represented by Wiley Rein LLP, a Washington, D.C. law firm.

At that time, Liu Yiyang, deputy secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, said in an exclusive interview with Jiemian News that in view of the investment of many Chinese photovoltaic companies in Southeast Asia, the US move was intended to suppress China's photovoltaic industry.

Liu Yiyang believes that the anti-dumping and anti-dumping policies need to go through many procedures and may not be implemented too quickly, but in the medium and long term, the possibility of landing is very high, and China's photovoltaic industry should not have a fluke mentality. Once landed, it may affect the industrial layout of Chinese enterprises in Southeast Asia to a certain extent.

In fact, the last round of anti-dumping and anti-dumping issues in Southeast Asia has not officially ended.

In February 2022, Auxin Solar, a California-based PV module company, filed a petition asking the U.S. Department of Commerce to launch an anti-tariff circumvention investigation into solar products from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

A few months later, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a 24-month tariff waiver on photovoltaic panels from four Southeast Asian countries. In June of this year, the anti-circumvention exemption period for the four Southeast Asian countries was coming to an end.

In August last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the anti-circumvention investigation. According to the final ruling, the four countries under investigation were found to have circumvented the situation nationwide, and among the eight companies that were compelled to respond to the anti-circumvention investigation, five companies, BYD Hong Kong, Canadian Solar (688472.SH), Trina Solar, LONGi Solar and New East Solar, were tentatively identified as having circumvention behavior. Hanwha, JinkoSolar (688223.SH) and Bowert, a subsidiary of Powerway Alloy, were found to have not acted evasively.

At present, LONGi Green Energy (601012.SH) has integrated production capacity in Malaysia, and also has cell and module production capacity in Vietnam.

JinkoSolar's annual report shows that it has further expanded its globally integrated supply chain, including factories in Southeast Asia. According to previous data, the company's annualized cell production capacity in Malaysia is about 6.3 GW, and the annualized module production capacity is about 7.1 GW, and it has also invested in wafer, cell, and module production capacity in Vietnam.

JA Solar (002459.SZ) has basically formed 6 GW of integrated PV production capacity at its base in Vietnam and has a factory in Malaysia. Trina Solar has built a total of 6.5 GW of integrated production capacity in Vietnam and Thailand.

In addition, Canadian Solar, Risen Energy (300118.SZ), Chint New Energy, GCL Integration (002506.SZ) and many other Chinese photovoltaic companies have a presence in Southeast Asia. According to statistics from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, nearly 20 Chinese photovoltaic companies have deployed photovoltaic production in Southeast Asia through joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and investment.

Liu Yiyang previously told Jiemian News that the U.S. market adds about 40 GW of new installed capacity every year, accounting for less than 10% of the total global market, and the impact of double reversal has long been far from that of 2010-2012. In addition, in the context of global energy transition, China's photovoltaic products have a strong price advantage, global demand is very strong, China's photovoltaic industry diversified development, embracing the global industrial chain layout can help us effectively deal with risks.

Liu Yiyang suggested that photovoltaic companies investing in the four countries should actively contact the governments of the host countries and use legal weapons and international trade rules to actively respond to the lawsuit law and protect their rights.

He believes that Chinese photovoltaic companies have provided a large amount of tax revenue and employment for the four countries, and also improved the industrial manufacturing level of the four countries, and the US move will have an adverse impact on the economic development of the four countries.

Another PV industry insider told Jian News that if the United States wants to achieve the future net-zero goal, the demand for new energy photovoltaics will continue to grow. Even if the tariffs are increased, the quality and price advantages of Chinese PV products are still highly competitive in the US market, so there is no need to worry too much about these measures.

Recently, in addition to the anti-dumping and anti-dumping investigations in Southeast Asia, the United States has also imposed Section 301 tariffs on China's "new three" and other products. The U.S. government will raise tariffs on solar cells imported from China, whether assembled into modules or not, from 25% to 50% this year.

The White House statement noted that the tariff hikes were to prevent China's policy-driven overcapacity that has depressed prices and inhibited the development of solar capacity outside of China.

China has used unfair practices to dominate more than 80%-90% of some parts of the global solar supply chain and is trying to maintain the status quo, the statement said. China's policies and non-market practices are flooding the global market with artificially cheap solar modules and panels, undermining investment in solar manufacturing outside of China.

China's Ministry of Commerce said that the US side abused the Section 301 tariff review procedure to further increase the Section 301 tariffs imposed on some Chinese products out of domestic political considerations, and politicized and instrumentalized economic and trade issues, which is a typical political manipulation, and China strongly disagrees with this.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded on May 15 that China urged the US to earnestly abide by WTO rules and immediately lift the additional tariffs imposed on China. China will take all necessary measures to defend its rights and interests.