MOFCOM Answered Reporters’ Questions concerning EU’s Anti-dumping Complaints against China’s PV Cells

Recently, according to reports by FT and Bloomberg, on July 24, EU photovoltaic (PV) industry represented by German giant Solarworld filed an anti-dumping petition with European Commission against imports of PV cells from China.

Head of Bureau of Fair Trade for Imports and Exports said in an interview by reporters that, MOFCOM has noticed the media report and is verifying the information.

The Head pointed out that, the down-going of pricing of raw material for PV cells and advancement of technology is the main reason for China’s PV cells’ competitive price. It is not the dumping claimed by some EU companies. Price of polysilicon imports, the major raw material for PV cells keeps going down, from the highest of nearly 300 USD/kg in 2008 to less than 30 USD/kg at present, which brings about a down-going price of PV cells. Meanwhile, in recent years, China’s PV industry attaches importance to technology advancement and large-scale production, which further brings down the production costs. It is groundless to claim there is a dumping of PV cells from China.

The Head also pointed out that in the whole PV industrial chain, China’s industrial advantage is the production of solar cell modules and solar cell panels, but the raw materials, equipments and production technologies are mainly imported from EU and the US. The development of China’s PV industry not only drove the export of EU raw materials and high-level equipment, but also created many jobs for EU downstream industries such as the installation of PV power generation equipments. The PV industries of the two sides are interdependent and mutually beneficial; any restrictive measures against China’s PV cells will harm the interests of the EU industry.

The Head stressed that the PV industries of the two sides should solve divergences through consultation and cooperation, and together maintain the stable and healthy environment for the industry’s development. As world economy recovers slowly and global economic development has unstable and uncertain elements, a stable and free trade environment is the guarantee for the common development of China and EU PV industries. We hope the PV industries of the two sides can solve the divergences through consultation, seek win-win paths through cooperation, and together safeguard the sound development environment for the industry.

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