Chinese Solar Companies Retreat Before Dumping Ruling
Duties may be higher than anticipated
Today most Chinese solar companies dropped ahead of an important ruling by the Department of Commerce. The anti-dumping case, initiated by CASM (mostly Solarworld), aims to slow the pace of Chinese solar modules invading the U.S. Recently there is a heated exchange between CASE and CASM with CASE claiming SolarWorld being hypocritical since there was time SolarWorld selling below costs.
The previous ruling by DOC in March is about the subsidies received by Chinese solar companies. The low anti-subsidy duty imposed by DOC is considered a big victory for Chinese solar companies. However, this time things may be different with some observers thinking a 20%+ duty is possible. The case for higher duty is that the big module ASP crumble is caused by Chinese companies, plus the fact that all the Chinese module companies suffered a loss in 2011-Q4 and will likely report more losses at 2012-Q1.
Today FSLR and SPWR rose in trading with WFR down slightly. This seems to be related to the upcoming ruling as FSLR and SPWR will benefit more from the duty as they have a higher exposure to modules. If a 20% duty is added, it may mean a 10 cents price hike for the modules sold in the U.S.
- Tags: Anti-dumping DOC duty FSLR
