Solar panel manufacturer acts to counter import controls abroad
Print Edition
ONE of China’s biggest makers of solar panels said yesterday that it will invest US$309 million to expand manufacturing in India in a move to guard against what it complained is a rising threat of import controls in the United States and other markets.
Longi Solar Technology Ltd’s announcement follows the January 24 decision by the administration led by US President Donald Trump to impose an extra 30 percent duty on imported solar modules.
In India, the finance ministry said it is considering a “safeguard tariff” of 70 percent on solar panels from China and Malaysia.
Chinese manufacturers dominate global solar panel production. Their growth has helped to propel adoption of renewable energy by driving down costs.
The United States, Europe and other non-Chinese markets account for only 10 percent of Longi’s sales, according to its strategy director Max Xia. But he said Longi wants to promote global sales of its latest technology this year.
“We think sooner or later anti-dumping and trade protection will be happening in several countries,” said Xia. “This is why we choose to do the investment in Malaysia and also in India, because we don’t know when and where it will happen, this kind of anti-dumping. So we prepare to counter it.”
Xia’s comment represented an unusually explicit statement by the Chinese industry that it is moving production to avoid trade controls. Other Chinese producers have set up factories in India and Southeast Asia but usually say they are getting closer to customers or taking advantage of local talent and supply chains.
Some Chinese solar manufacturers responded to earlier US and European trade measures by supplying those markets from factories outside China, avoiding higher tariffs and quotas on Chinese-made products.
Longi already has a solar module factory in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The latest investment will double production there, the company said.
Xia repeated warnings by Chinese manufacturers that import controls are hampering efforts to encourage adoption of renewable energy.
“That possibly could start a green-energy trade war,” he said. “That is, with the whole world concerned about climate change, what people who want to solve energy problems and realize green development aren’t willing to see.”
Longi, headquartered in Xi’an in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, ranked No. 7 among global solar panel producers by 2017 output, according to PV Tech, an industry journal. The South Korean-German supplier Hanhwa-Q Cells was the only non-Chinese competitor in the top 10.
India’s Finance Ministry said on January 5 that Chinese exporters had shifted their focus to India in early 2017 after the US and Europe stepped up import controls.
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