The US imposes preliminary duties on solar imports originating from India, Indonesia and Laos
The U.S. Commerce Department announced Tuesday countervailing duty?on solar panels and cells imported by a?companies from India, Indonesia, and Laos?in an effort to counter subsidies supporting Asian industries.
The decision was made by U.S. Trade officials who sided with the domestic solar factory owners, finding that the companies in the three countries had received government subsidies which rendered American products uncompetitive. This is the latest in an ongoing series of duties on solar imports that are mostly made by Chinese firms.
A fact sheet posted on the Commerce Department website shows that the agency calculated general subsidies of 125.87% when it comes to imports coming from India.
According to data from the government, solar imports in 2013 amounted to $4.5 billion, or two-thirds. U.S. Tariffs are known to disrupt global solar trade. Imports of solar panels from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand plummeted after a trade dispute that resulted in high tariffs on these nations' imports.
The announcement is the first in a series of two that the agency will make in the next few weeks regarding a case filed last year by a small group of solar manufacturers in the United States. Commerce Department will make a decision on a separate issue next month, namely whether the companies from these three countries flooded the U.S. solar market with products at prices lower than their cost of manufacture.
The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade includes South Korea’s Hanwha Qcells, Arizona’s?First Solar and San Antonio’s Mission Solar which is owned Korea’s OCI Holdings. Producers are trying to protect the billions in investment in U.S. factories.
Tim Brightbill - the lead attorney of the?Alliance - hailed this move as an "important step towards restoring fair competition."
"American manufacturers invest billions of dollars to rebuild domestic capability?and create well-paying job." These investments will not succeed if unfairly-traded imports distort the markets, he said.
The Commerce Department, in addition to the?general?rates calculated by the Department, also calculated individual rates of 125.87% in India for Mundra Solar, 143.3% in Indonesia for PT REC Solar Energy, 85.99% in Indonesia for PT Blue Sky Solar, and 80.67% in Laos for both Solarspace Technology Sole Co. and Vietnam Sunergy Joint Stock Company.
Matthew Nicely, a lawyer for Solarspace?which has its headquarters in China?, stated that the company is "disappointed".
Nicely wrote in an email that "This rate is not representative of the actual experience of the company or even a realistic analogy."
Other companies' U.S. lawyers were not available to comment immediately.
Commerce has said that a final decision in the countervailing inquiry is expected to be made in July. (Reporting and editing by Nichola Grroom, Ali Williams and Aurora Ellis).
(source: Reuters)
