PV industry may suffer another blow from EU - SolarStar

 The Financial Times have reported that Solar World filed an anti-dumping  complaint accusing Chinese manufactures of selling photovoltaic cells below cost, the EU commission will have 45 days from the date of filing to decide whether to start an investigation.

According to local media, Solar World handed in the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy  complaint on July 9th.

But as files were inadequate, EU commission didn""t place the file on July 9th. Since the commission started a vacation since July 25th, the possible investigation may be postponed to September.

China is keeping a close eye on an anti-dumping complaint that the German solar giant SolarWorld AG filed over Chinese manufacturers"" practices and will probably take countermeasures if the European Commission begins investigating the matter, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

"We have paid more attention to this case than any other trade remedy case because of the high value of (the industry""s) exports," a ministry official was quoted in China Daily.

China""s PV companies have been informed of the complaint, TrinaSolar Ltd, said its board have discussed ways to respond to the situation and plans to release an official statement after the EU takes further official action.

Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, encourages the solar industry to explore emerging markets in order to reduce exposure to trade investigations in EU and US.

China""s PV industry has long been suffering from excessive inventories and cash flow shortages. With the EU accounting for 70 percent of China""s PV export market, if high tariff are imposed after the EU commission""s investigation it would become a critical issue for China""s PV industry.