China won't impose solar tariff on polysilicon imports

By Ehren Goossens

China, the biggest producer of solar products, probably won’t impose tariffs on imported polysilicon, the main raw ingredient in panels that turn sunlight into electricity, according Aaron Chew, an analyst with Maxim Group LLC.

China is expected to rule Feb. 20 on complaints from domestic polysilicon producers that imports from Europe, South Korea and the U.S. are being sold in the country below cost, Chew said in a research note today.

The complaint is part of an escalating solar trade fight pitting China against the U.S. and Europe. Chew said a polysilicon tariff would be a retaliation for duties the U.S. imposed on Chinese solar products in October and Europe is considering. It may hurt Chinese Companies that make polysilicon-based cells and panels more than it would benefit the polysilicon suppliers.

Imposing a tariff on imported polysilicon “would raise production costs and further squeeze the economics of module manufacturing, already under pressure from severe price declines,” Chew said in the report.

China began investigating in November whether foreign polysilicon manufacturers, which supply 75 percent of the material worldwide, were dumping their product in China.

The world’s biggest polysilicon producer is China-based GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. (3800) The next four are South Korea’s OCI Co. (010060), Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. from the U.S., Germany’s Wacker Chemie AG (WCH) and Norway’s Renewable Energy Corp. (REC), according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

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