US solar panel manufacturers seek tariff investigation on Ethiopia

A group of U.S. solar panels makers asked federal trade officials on Tuesday to investigate solar shipments coming from Ethiopia. They claimed that companies were finishing their products there to avoid paying import duties for Chinese-made products.

The filing at the U.S. Department of Commerce comes after a decade of efforts by the owners of domestic solar panels factories to obtain tariffs on imports that are primarily made by Chinese companies.

The claim is that Japan's Toyo Manufacturing and Origin Solar Manufacturing use Chinese wafers in Ethiopia to manufacture solar cells, before assembling these cells into panels in Ethiopia or Vietnam to export to the U.S.

By rerouting goods to other countries and modifying the processing, it is illegal to avoid U.S. tariffs.

The petitioning group includes Arizona's First Solar Inc,?Qcells and the solar manufacturing unit from South Korea's Hanwha. Also included are six smaller producers. First Solar and Qcells both invested billions in U.S. solar panels factories.

Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing solar manufacturers. Ethiopia was the top solar importer in the U.S. Last year, Ethiopia was the 7th largest solar importer in the United States.

Tim Brightbill is a partner at Wiley Rein, and the lead lawyer for the group. He said in a statement that "what we're seeing" in Ethiopia was a familiar pattern. "American solar manufacturing is at a turning point. With billions of dollars invested, thousands created jobs, and real capacity coming on line, we are not going to allow serial tariff evasion to undermine that 'progress.

Since a decade, the U.S. has imposed anti-dumping and contravailing duties on solar products made in China?after an investigation by Commerce found that companies there were receiving unfair government subsides which?kept their prices artificially low. The U.S. has imposed countervailing duties and anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar products for over a decade after a Commerce Department probe found that companies?there were receiving unfair government subsidies which?kept prices artificially low. (Reporting and editing by David Gregorio; Nichola Groom)

(source: Reuters)