Accused of "unfair subsidies" Sino-US photovoltaic trade or renewed friction

“This is a very serious situation. The Chinese government and related companies should take strong action.” According to the complaint from the United Steel Workers’ Union about China’s new energy, Shi Zhengrong, the largest solar company in China, was somewhat excited.

At the 2010 Wuxi New Energy Conference held on September 17, Shi Zhengrong said that he hoped that all parties could enable the United States not to impose sanctions on China's photovoltaic industry. Otherwise, the impact on China's photovoltaic industry is "huge."

On September 14, the United Steelworkers (USW) disclosed that it had submitted a nearly 6,000-page briefing to the U.S. government to accuse China of unfairly subsidizing its clean energy technology industry. Column out of them.

Artus CEO Xiaotao Yao told the reporter that the new energy products should be allowed to circulate globally. It has expressed opposition to the USW practice in the United States Solar Energy Industry Association, but it also acknowledged that “with the development of the photovoltaic industry, China’s photovoltaic industry will inevitably Encountered trade friction."

However, JA Solar, a CEO who had worked and lived in the United States for more than 20 years, told the reporter that domestic complaints against USW should be handled coldly. Due to the sensitive period in the mid-term elections in the United States, if the domestic high-profile response is likely to be a US politician Utilize and do a ruling against China.

"Now it has entered a stage of extreme disappointment." Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, told the reporter that over the past year, the capacity of the domestic photovoltaic industry has expanded too quickly, and the market relied mainly on a few countries. The Chinese photovoltaic industry is very likely. Unable to get the required market space.

Countervailing claims

Compared with Shi Zhengrong’s high-profile and excitement, other domestic PV companies are significantly low-key, “stand and change” and become the attitude of many domestic photovoltaic companies.

According to USW, it submitted a related report to the U.S. government on September 9. It accuses the Chinese government of adopting measures such as discriminatory laws and regulations, technology transfer conditions, control of key raw materials, and large-scale government subsidies to strengthen the position of Chinese companies in the new energy industry. The above measures have a total value of "hundreds of billions of dollars."

In the briefing paper disclosed by the USW, it divided China's measures into five categories: reducing the availability of key raw materials, such as controlling the export of rare earths; violation of WTO regulations prohibiting subsidies based on export performance and “localization”, such as Research and development of new energy export products**; discriminatory measures against imported goods and foreign companies, such as the localization rate requirements of photovoltaic and wind power; technology transfer regulations, such as the use of the US photovoltaic company Evergreen Solar to set up a joint venture in China to force it Transfer related technologies into joint ventures; domestic subsidies that interfere with trade.

USW** Leo Gerard said that the new energy industry is the future of US steel workers, and China has taken various measures to strengthen its leadership in the new energy industry, many of which are not in line with world trade regulations. Can not make any concessions in the energy industry manufacturing.

The U.S. Trade Representative Office (USTR), which is responsible for handling USW complaints, stated that the complaint has been reviewed in accordance with existing procedures.

Shi Zhengrong stated that the international trade friction in the photovoltaic industry is not necessary. The photovoltaic industry is a global industry. Taking the raw material polysilicon of the domestic photovoltaic industry as an example, 39% and 18% of them are from the United States and Europe respectively. “The Chinese government and enterprises should The truth of the facts is announced outside the court to avoid being misrepresented by the US media."

Fang Peng believes that in the USW's complaint, China should not face confrontation with the United States. The US government may initiate an investigation, but "should not make a ruling against China's photovoltaic industry."

Fang Peng said that since the United States is going to hold mid-term elections and the USW is crowded, many politicians are eager to win. If they face head-on confrontation with the United States, it will make the USW's complaints more influential. It is inevitable that American politicians want to use this incident to win support from the voters. In order to make adverse decisions against China.

Anti-dumping abroad

Foreign trade sanctions are an unacceptable level for China's photovoltaic industry.

In August 2009, Germany's major PV companies wanted to launch anti-dumping investigations on China's PV industry in the EU. This caused a high level of tension in the domestic PV industry. China set up a working group to communicate with relevant companies and government agencies in Europe to avoid anti-dumping.

Shi Zhengrong said that the photovoltaic industry has entered the global gaming era. The game in the global market is particularly important to China.

As the world's largest photovoltaic product producer, Zhao Yuwen, deputy director of the China Renewable Energy Society, said that China accounts for about 40% of global solar cell production, and that the Chinese photovoltaic market accounts for only about 2% of the world's photovoltaics. More than 90% of photovoltaic production ports are exported to foreign countries. While Germany accounts for 40% of the world's photovoltaic market, the entire EU accounts for 80%. If plus the United States, it accounts for about 90% of the world's photovoltaic market.

The European and American markets are the lifeline of China's photovoltaic industry.

According to Shi Zhengrong, China's photovoltaic products account for half of the U.S. PV market, and the U.S. photovoltaic market is in a period of rapid growth. In 2010, the photovoltaic market is about 1 GW, and in 2011, it may reach 2 GW.

In addition, the rapid expansion of the domestic photovoltaic industry, a number of companies including Jinao have achieved capacity doubling, and public statistics show that the first half of China's photovoltaic cell shipments has reached the total amount last year, Shi Zhengrong estimated that in 2011 China's photovoltaic Battery production will also increase by 50% on the basis of 2010.

China’s rapidly increasing capacity is desperately required to come up with a potential large-scale market like the United States, and another worrying situation is that Europe and the United States often take concerted action against China’s trade sanctions, and many PV people are worried that such as the United States Once an unfavorable ruling is made against China, the EU can also easily make a similar ruling.

Geng Xiaolu believes that the international trade friction of photovoltaic products is the performance of the industry to re-balance. “At present, the trend of the shift of PV manufacturing to Asia is very obvious. While Europe and the United States are focusing on the manufacture of photovoltaic equipment, the process of re-division of the global photovoltaic industry will inevitably occur. "Dispute," "PV companies should do their best to comply with international rules and reduce international friction."

Nicknamed that because only the preliminary anti-dumping demands of the United States are now seen, it has not yet reached the stage of filing, so no special action has been taken.

However, if China's PV industry wants to remove the European and U.S. trade sanctions, the sword of Damocles has to wait for the rise of China's PV market to form the same global position as China's PV products.