The U.S. Department of Commerce has begun an investigation into solar panels imported from India, Indonesia, and Laos. This action follows requests from U.S. solar companies, citing that regions for circumvention of exports by Chinese corporations have expanded. Hanwha Qcells, which has been vertically integrating solar manufacturing in the U.S. amid continued U.S. government regulations on Chinese solar companies, expects to benefit.
According to the solar industry on the 14th, the U.S. Department of Commerce began an anti-dumping tariff and countervailing duty investigation into solar panels from India, Indonesia, and Laos on the 7th (local time). According to the department's statement, the dumping margins for each country are 123.04% for India, 94.36% for Indonesia, and 123.12% to 190.12% for Laos.
Dumping refers to exporting at a price lower than the domestic selling price, and the dumping margin is the profit that occurs when the export price is below the normal price (the selling price in the exporting country). A dumping margin of over 100% means that the export price is less than half of the normal price.
From 2022 to 2024, the amount of solar panels exported to the U.S. from the three countries has increased sharply. India exported 2.3 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels to the U.S. last year. Although Laos exported only 45 megawatts (MW) of solar panels to the U.S. in 2023, this number increased to about 2 GW (1 GW equals 1,000 MW) last year.
This investigation followed a previous inquiry into solar panels from four Southeast Asian countries. Previously, the U.S. conducted an investigation into solar panels exported from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia, imposing tariffs. The initiation of this investigation into solar panels from India, Indonesia, and Laos is the result of the assessment that these three countries have become havens for Chinese corporations attempting to evade tariffs imposed on the four Southeast Asian countries.
China has expanded its manufacturing capacity using government subsidies and drastically reduced production costs by using domestic polysilicon. If there are no tariffs, it's only a matter of time before China dominates the global solar market. While the U.S. continues to regulate Chinese companies, Korean solar firms are enjoying ripple benefits.
The preliminary ruling from the U.S. International Trade Commission is slated for Sept. 2 this year. Once the preliminary ruling is finalized, the Department of Commerce is expected to announce a preliminary determination of countervailing duties on Oct. 13 and a preliminary determination of anti-dumping duties on Dec. 26. Following this, the U.S. government may impose tariffs on solar panels from India, Indonesia, and Laos to offset dumping and subsidies.