The US Department of Commerce on December 16 determined final anti-dumping tariff rates on Taiwan-made crystalline silicon solar cells either directly exported to the US or used in China-made PV modules for export to the US market, with the average rate standing at 19.50%, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).
The latest rate is lower than the preliminary raverage of 24.23% the US set in late July 2014, MOEA noted.
Among Taiwan-based solar cell makers, the anti-dumping tariff rate for Motech Industries is the lowest and drops by the most from a preliminary level of 20.86% to a final level of 11.45% while that for Gintech Energy drops the least from 27.59% to 27.55%, MOEA said. The anti-dumping tariffs are specific to solar cells, not covering Taiwan-made PV modules made of solar cells produced in countries other than Taiwan and China.
In comparison, China-based PV module makers are imposed with anti-dumping tariff rates of 26.71-165.04%: 76.50% for Trina Solar; 78.42% for both ReneSolar and JinkoSolar; 90.85% for Yingli Green Energy; and 165.04% for smaller makers and those which did not accept the US anti-dumping investigation. In addition, China-based PV module makers are imposed with anti-subsidization tariff rates of 27.64-49.79%.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) will further investigate to see whether such imports are detrimental to US PV industry and announce the results of its probe on January 29, 2015, MOEA said, adding if ITC determines these imports are not detrimental to the local PV industry, the anti-dumping and anti-subsidization taxation will not come into effect.
