More than a month after the US International Trade Commission's (ITC) anti-dumping and countervailing duties ruling against China's and Taiwan's solar makers, the effects of that decision continue to shape those firms’ business strategies. Amidst trade disputes with the US and EU, Chinese solar manufacturers have begun moving production offshore over the past two years, said Jason Huang, a research manager at EnergyTrend, a subsidiary of the Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce.
The China National Energy Administration issued a new policy on September 4 aimed at bolstering the distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) market. “This new policy will loosen current regulations, which will give the market a needed push,” said Arthur Xu, a research manager at EnergyTrend, a subsidiary of the Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce.
Taiwan photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers have received rush orders since the end of August, leading to higher utilization rates and boosting optimism among Taiwan PV producers about demand in September. Yet Chinese demand remains weak as Chinese PV manufacturers have yet to reap the benefits of supportive Chinese government policies, such as subsidies for manufacturers.
DuPont is stepping up its attacks on the customers of its competitor Samsung SDI, alleging that by using Samsung SDI’s front-side metallization paste, they are infringing on DuPont’s own patented tellurium paste technology. DuPont is using legal channels to attempt to sever the ties between Samsung SDI and its customers, according to EnergyTrend, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce.
On August 19, the US Department of Commerce announced it had revised the preliminary anti-dumping duty on solar products produced by Motech Industries in Taiwan, causing Motech’s tariff rate to drop from 44.18%, the highest among Taiwanese producers, to 20.86%, the lowest. For other Taiwanese photovoltaic (PV) producers, the average duty rate has fallen to 24.23%.
