EU Reopens Anti-Dumping Probe into Chinese-Made Solar Glass

The European Commission – the 28-nation bloc’s executive arm – re-opened its previous anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar glass from China in December, in a move that could reignite past tensions between Brussels and Beijing on renewables trade.

The “absorption” investigation was re-opened on 19 December, according to a filing in the Official Journal of the European Union, in response to a request by EU ProSun Glass. The probe is set to conclude within nine months of the notice’s publication.

EU ProSun Glass is a coalition which is said to represent over a quarter of the EU bloc’s solar glass production, and had also pushed for the original investigation into allegedly unfair trade practices involving this product.

Solar glass is used primarily in making solar panels, though it can also be used in furniture and for horticultural purposes. EU data has put the value of the European solar glass market at under €200 million in 2012.

Five-year duties

Last year, the EU had confirmed that it would be imposing definitive anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar glass for a five-year period, with the levies taking effect from May 2014.

The anti-dumping duties range from 0.4 percent to 36.1 percent, depending on the company involved. The anti-subsidy duties, for their part, are between 3.2 to 17.1 percent.

However, the Commission’s 19 December filing says that EU ProSun Glass “has submitted sufficient evidence” to indicate a decrease in export prices since the original investigation period, while noting that there has not been enough change in resale prices or subsequent selling prices within the 28-nation bloc, despite the imposition of the duties in May.

The solar glass investigations are separate from those that the European Commission conducted on imports of Chinese-made solar panels, and involves a significantly smaller market by comparison.

In the solar panel cases, Brussels investigators had looked into whether Chinese producers of such goods had received unfair state aid, and whether those solar panels had been sold at prices below their normal value in the EU bloc.

Brussels and Beijing ultimately reached a “price undertaking” agreement in 2013 that resolved the anti-subsidy and anti-subsidy probes in that case.

Notably, one of the main producers who backed the solar panel probe, SolarWorld AG, has argued that re-opening the solar glass investigation is unnecessary and potentially counterproductive.