Chinese photovoltaic panels, the EU has decided. The European Commission has unanimously agreed to impose duties on panels imported from China to combat the dumping of these products within the European market
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Chinese photovoltaic panels, the EU has decided. The European Commission has unanimously agreed to impose duties on panels imported from China to combat the dumping of these products within the European market.
A decision that had been under discussion for some time, after a nine-month investigation launched in September 2012 in which the Commission found that Chinese companies are selling solar panels to Europe at prices well below normal market value, damaging so considerably EU manufacturers of solar panels. Like this, like explains EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht, Chinese dumped exports exerted undue pressure on the prices of the Old Continent market, putting European producers of photovoltaic modules in difficulty. In fact, according to the European authorities, the fair value of a Chinese solar panel sold to Europe should be 88% higher than the price at which it is actually sold.
How will the tariff system work? As we read on GreenBiz, land rates will take effect on June 6 and will be valid for six months, ie until the conclusion of the overall survey, at the beginning of December. At that point, the EU will have to decide whether to transform the provisional duties into definitive ones for a maximum of 5 years. Due will be the phases: a rate of 11,8% for the first two months until 6 August, followed by a rate of 47,6% for another four months, for the EU the level necessary to eliminate the damage caused by dumping in the European industry.
Satisfaction on the part of Eu Prosun, who had become the spokesperson for European discontent asking the EU to open the investigation: “We are relieved that the European Commission has finally introduced concrete measures against Chinese dumping, which has already cost thousands of jobs and the closure of more than 60 factories in Europe for the solar industry. Dumping is fraud and harms the future of solar energy and must be relegated to the past ”.
Il Ifi Committee welcomed the news in a more lukewarm way: "The imposition of dumping duties with the system in two stages: the first (11,8%) will not produce any beneficial effect on European and national manufacturing, on the contrary it could lead to massive imports of produced by China to cover many months of domestic demand; the second (47% and / or 67%), well below the average dumping margin found by the Commission, equal to 88%, is also not very respectful of the industrial disaster that Chinese dumping has caused in Europe in the last three years ".
Alessandro Cremonesi, IFI president, added that the only solution could be to make the permanent duties: "The national industry will continue to appeal to its government and community representatives to continue the commitment already demonstrated in recent months for the defense of the principle of competitive equity in the photovoltaic market, making, on the occasion of the final decision expected by the vote of the EU Council by December 6, the dumping duties from provisional to permanent “.
Regret on the part of Afase, which complained that the EU ignored the positions expressed by 18 of the 27 Member States, which voted against the adoption of tariffs, based on the information available to them: "The decision to impose the duties was taken despite warnings from hundreds of European solar companies, 15 European photovoltaic associations, various trade associations, such as the Federation of German Industry (BDI), the German Federal Association of Wholesale and Foreign Trade (BGA), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and numerous experts. All of them have spoken out publicly against the application of duties, arguing that they will harm not only the European solar sector, but the entire European economy " it is read in a statement.
“The Commission's decision gives the European Union and China only a short time to find a negotiated solution. We call on both sides to reach an agreement within the next two months that avoids rising prices, taking into account the interests of the European upstream and downstream solar industry sectors, ”added Thorsten Preugschas, CEO of the Soventix GmbH and board member of AFASE eV
The response from China was not long in coming, and it decided to start aanti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation against wine imported from the European Union. The country had already warned the European Union that it would "take the necessary measures" to defend its national interests if the photovoltaic tariffs were imposed. No sooner said than done.
China's announcement of the duties on wine, arrived in the aftermath of the EU decision on photovoltaics, has already frightened Coldiretti, according to which the Chinese decision on European wine would risk blocking a trend that in the last three years has seen sales of made in Italy bottles quadruple on the market of the Asian country. According to Coldiretti, since 2008, national exports to the Asian country have increased from 19 million euros to 77 million euros, and the first two months of the year also confirmed the trend, with a record increase of 42 percent.
Francesca Mancuso
READ also:
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