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Photovoltaic, EU: up to 30% duties on Chinese solar panels
On the table of the European Commission there is a measure that should come out by June 6.
According to the agency Reuters, which quote sources of the Commission, Europe would be ready to impose duties up to 30 percent on imports of Chinese photovoltaic panels, starting already from next June 6.
Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he was "ready to go ahead”. The duties will have duration of 5 years and they would set out around 30% of the value of the Chinese panels.
However, a diplomatic solution with Beijing might still be possible, if a deal will be found before December. Europe has conflicting interests against China: although Chinese products hurt European manufacturers, China's market is fundamental in many other sectors, in the bargain many European companies have shifted part of their production in China: Brussels fears repercussions by the Beijing Government.
Angela Merkel has in fact underlined, during a recent visit in China, that Europe "has no interest in a trade war for solar panels, but Germany, through the SolarWord Association, is among the fiercest countries on the issue: "we're pressing as much as possible about this case -reported an anonymous source of the Commission quoted by Reuters - Germany usually does not promote protectionist policies, but this is an important area under attack by the Chinese".
The attack in question refers to several cases of suspected Dumping by the Commission itself: on 30 cases of Dumping and subsidies, 19 involve Chinese companies, which would sell the panels at a lower price than that one applied in the internal market.
The Chinese panels market arrived, in 2011, at 21 billion Euro, the Chinese production, from 2009 to 2011 has more than quadrupled, arriving to produce more of the entire global demand: the problem, therefore, is real, so that the United States, that have always been the homeland of free market, already have applied duties to Chinese panels, allowing American companies to remain competitive with the Asian ones.
The downside of this issue? The rising of the prices for the end customer, which inevitably will occur as far as the duties will be operational, could create a boomerang effect, damaging the industries. Furthermore, as already underlined by various associations, the impact of the duties would be to distance the goals of Kyoto and the 2020 European ones.
Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he was "ready to go ahead”. The duties will have duration of 5 years and they would set out around 30% of the value of the Chinese panels.
However, a diplomatic solution with Beijing might still be possible, if a deal will be found before December. Europe has conflicting interests against China: although Chinese products hurt European manufacturers, China's market is fundamental in many other sectors, in the bargain many European companies have shifted part of their production in China: Brussels fears repercussions by the Beijing Government.
Angela Merkel has in fact underlined, during a recent visit in China, that Europe "has no interest in a trade war for solar panels, but Germany, through the SolarWord Association, is among the fiercest countries on the issue: "we're pressing as much as possible about this case -reported an anonymous source of the Commission quoted by Reuters - Germany usually does not promote protectionist policies, but this is an important area under attack by the Chinese".
The attack in question refers to several cases of suspected Dumping by the Commission itself: on 30 cases of Dumping and subsidies, 19 involve Chinese companies, which would sell the panels at a lower price than that one applied in the internal market.
The Chinese panels market arrived, in 2011, at 21 billion Euro, the Chinese production, from 2009 to 2011 has more than quadrupled, arriving to produce more of the entire global demand: the problem, therefore, is real, so that the United States, that have always been the homeland of free market, already have applied duties to Chinese panels, allowing American companies to remain competitive with the Asian ones.
The downside of this issue? The rising of the prices for the end customer, which inevitably will occur as far as the duties will be operational, could create a boomerang effect, damaging the industries. Furthermore, as already underlined by various associations, the impact of the duties would be to distance the goals of Kyoto and the 2020 European ones.
