Solar Glass Spat Renews EU-China Trade Tensions

The European Commission announced last week that it was launching a new investigation into whether imports of solar glass from China were being sold below market value - a practice known as “dumping.” The move comes as a reaction to a 15 January complaint from EU ProSun Glass, an ad hoc group representing European solar glass manufacturers.

While not connected formally with EU ProSun, the group responsible for issuing a separate solar complaint last September, EU ProSun Glass represents a similar constituency that is responsible for more than the 25 percent of industry production required to launch an investigation. Solar glass is used primarily, but not exclusively, in the production of solar panels.

According to Brussels, the EU solar glass market is valued at less than €200 million. Bloomberg notes that solar glass accounts for about four percent of solar panel costs and that EU imports of solar panels from China were worth €21 billion in 2011. Brussels said that it was obliged to open the new investigation because the complainant was able to provide clear evidence of dumping and material injury.

The EU investigation could take up to 15 months to reach a formal conclusion, but Brussels could impose anti-dumping duties as soon as December 2013, when the Commission releases its provisional findings.

Meanwhile, the separate investigation that the Commission launched last September into alleged dumping of Chinese solar panels continues underway, with an announcement on provisional duties expected by June, and final duties possibly by year’s end. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said last week that the two sides would need to reach an amicable solution in that timeframe if Beijing wishes to avoid the penalties that could come from that particular investigation.

The two sides have sparred repeatedly over their respective renewable energy policies over the past year, with challenges also coming from the Beijing side. Last November, China filed a WTO complaint against Brussels over EU local content requirements. That complaint came just days after China launched anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations domestically over EU exports of solar polysilicon components to the Chinese market.