The European Commission (EC) has raised the anti-dumping duties for the import of glass used in solar panels from China, citing that the sale of the products at undue low prices have been affecting the business of the European manufacturers.
EU Regulation 2015/1394, which has been published in the Official Journal of the EU, has set the revised duty rates for solar glass to between 17.5% and 75.4%.
The new rates have been prompted by a complaint from solar industry association EU ProSun Glass, which asked for a reinvestigation of the original anti-dumping measures in November 2014.
EU ProSun Glass is a joint initiative of members of the EU solar industry, and represents more than 25% of European solar glass producers.
The commission assessed the solar glasses exported by two Chinese companies, Flat Solar Glass Group and Xinyi PV Products Holdings.
Falling export prices of the two companies led them to conclude that exporting producers have absorbed the anti-dumping duties into their prices.
These two companies represent more than 60% of total Chinese exports into the EU; however, revised rates will only have a ‘limited impact on the total costs of the solar modules, in the order of magnitude of 2% – 3%’, according to the EC investigation.
