PVTIME – The US Department of Commerce has finalised punitive import duties on solar cells and panels from India, Indonesia and Laos. This follows an investigation which found that producers in these countries had sold goods at below market price in the US and benefited from unfair state subsidies.
Anti-dumping duties have been set at 123.04% for Indian producers, 94.36% for Indonesian suppliers, and 65.43% for Laotian manufacturers. Meanwhile, countervailing duties have been set at 126.09% for India, between 73.2% and 173.7% for Indonesia, and between 82.03% and 153.67% for Laos.
The US Solar Manufacturing Trade Coalition brought the investigation, whose members include First Solar, Hanwha Qcells and Solar Mission. On Friday, Tim Brightbill, the coalition’s chief counsel, said the ruling marked an important step towards enforcing American trade law and restoring fair competition for domestic solar manufacturers and their employees. He confirmed that the coalition would continue to monitor import data and hold any parties pursuing further circumvention accountable.
On 14 October, the US International Trade Commission will deliver its final determination on whether imports are materially injuring or threatening American industry. If the vote is affirmative, the Department of Commerce will issue final duty orders in November.
This case is the latest development in a long-running dispute over solar imports. Washington first imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar products in 2012, prompting American manufacturers to move production to other Asian countries.
