European Commission issues anti-dumping and anti-subsidy

On September 16, the European Commission issued a final ruling on the review of the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures against PV in China, and decided to change the form of the measures. In the implementation period of the remaining one year of the measure, the original price commitment method was replaced with the lower limit. price.

 

On September 18, Wang Hejun, director of the Trade Relief and Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in the past few years, the EU PV dual-reaction measures have caused unnecessary distortions to the EU market objectively, which is neither in China nor in the interests of the EU. The Chinese side hopes that the EU will completely terminate the PV dual-reaction measures as soon as possible, provide a more stable and predictable business environment for the cooperation between the two sides as soon as possible, and realize mutual benefit and win-win between the two industries.

 

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with the reporter of "Daily Economic News" that replacing the price commitment method with the lower price limit is not a one-off result, but the result of long-term efforts and running-in between China and Europe.

 

PV exports to Europe and the United States continue to fall

 

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the data released by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association shows that from September 2016, the total export value of China's photovoltaic products has dropped significantly year-on-year, and the export to the US has fallen.

 

Data show that in 2016, China's PV products exports reached US$14 billion, down 10.3% year-on-year. From January to August, the export volume dropped slightly by 0.53% year-on-year. Since September, exports have fallen year-on-year. Among them, the decline in exports to the United States is particularly serious. From September to December, exports to the United States amounted to about 140 million U.S. dollars, only about 10% of the total exports from January to August.

 

According to the "China Business News" report, before the EU's "double opposition" to China's PV, the European market accounted for more than 70% of the global installed capacity of new PV systems. Domestic PV manufacturing companies mainly export, of which EU market share. About 80%. In 2014, China's solar battery exports to Europe were 2.816 billion US dollars, down 24.25% year-on-year, accounting for only 19.55% of China's PV products' annual export share.

 

Wang Bohua, secretary-general of China Photovoltaic Industry Association, said that the price decline of PV products exported to Europe and the United States is more serious. One of the important reasons is the impact of trade remedy investigations frequently initiated by countries such as Europe and the United States. "The components exported from China have lost competitiveness after levying anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which is one of the reasons for the continued decline in exports to Europe and the United States."

 

"Daily Economic News" reporters found through data comparison that from 2010 to 2011, China's larger photovoltaic battery export market is Germany, however, since 2013, traditional markets such as Germany, the Netherlands and Italy accounted for a sharp drop in China's export share. Japan has turned into a major PV export market in China.

 

According to data released by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products, Germany was once China's largest export market for photovoltaic products from 2010 to 2011, with export shares accounting for 32.3% and 21.9% respectively; in 2012, China's share of PV products exported to Germany accounted for It fell to around 13.7%, but still ranked second.

 

By 2014~2015, among the top ten exporters of China's photovoltaic products, there has been no German figure, and Asian countries such as Japan and India have jumped into the top ten list. Among them, in the first half of 2015, China's share of photovoltaic products exported to Japan accounted for more than 30%.

 

From "double limit" to "single limit"

 

Wang Hejun said that the Chinese side has noticed that the European Commission has partially absorbed the opinions put forward by the Chinese government, industry organizations and enterprises in the mid-term review process, replacing the price commitment with a lower limit price that is not subject to quantitative restrictions, and gradually lowered it. The lower limit price level has taken a positive step in promoting the recovery of China-EU PV trade to the normal market as soon as possible.

 

According to the official website of the Ministry of Commerce, the new lower limit mechanism will be implemented from October 1, 2017. The European Commission distinguishes between single and polycrystalline products with different lower price limits. The starting price is 0.19 Euro/W for polycrystalline cells, 0.23 Euro/W for monocrystalline cells, and 0.37 Euro/W for polycrystalline components. The crystal component is 0.42 Euro/Watt. The scope of the Chinese enterprises to which the new mechanism applies is the current enterprises that have complied with the price commitment agreement and those that have previously voluntarily withdrawn from the price commitment but have not been found to have violated the behavior. The European Commission announced that it is 104 enterprises and their affiliates.

 

Bai Ming told reporters that in the past few years, the friction between China and Europe in the photovoltaic field was more severe. Through the efforts of the Chinese side, the EU imposed a “double limit” on the PV products exported from China to the European market, that is, it not only limited the price but also restricted the export. Quantity. "Now, from 'double limit' to 'single limit', there is no doubt that the photovoltaic market has taken another step. Of course, our ultimate goal is to completely terminate the double-reverse investigation."

 

"In the past, the EU unilaterally set the price of products through the third-country price comparison. There is no room for negotiation between the government and the enterprise. Now, it is the lower price limit for the Chinese and European companies to negotiate products. The European market; for the EU, it also satisfies some of their demands, which is a win-win result." Bai Ming said.

 

However, some insiders told reporters that the replacement of the original price commitment with the lower limit price is indeed a big step. "But there is room for gaming in the lower limit price. What kind of price limit is appropriate? It may also require the efforts of all parties to negotiate."

 

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Commerce, in the first half of 2017, the number and amount of trade remedy surveys in China also showed a significant decline.

 

The data shows that in the first half of this year, China's products encountered 37 trade remedy investigation cases initiated by 15 countries and regions, including 28 anti-dumping cases, 4 anti-subsidies, and 5 safeguard measures; the total amount involved was 5.3 billion US dollars. In the same period last year, the number of cases involving trade remedy investigations in China reached 65, involving an amount of 8.5 billion US dollars.