Solar industry's critical juncture

Source：December 05, 2012 | Beijing Revi Release Date：2012-12-10 276

Plastics & Rubber

Confronted with massive anti-dumping measures, China's photovoltaic industry will undergo healthier and more sustainable development

By Lan Xinzhen

"Yingli won't be daunted by the anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations, or give up the American market. In the future, Yingli will focus on intensifying technological innovation and diversifying its business to improve profitability," said Wang Zhixin, News Director for Yingli Green Energy, in response to the decision made by the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose tariffs on photovoltaic (PV) products imported from China.

Since Yingli Group entered the PV power generation market in 1998, it has expanded its presence across 12 countries, including the United States, Germany, Italy and Spain. With total assets of 36.6 billion yuan ($5.55 billion) and 26,000 staff members, Yingli ranks among the top five globally, producing PV products of nearly 3 gigawatts (GW).

Since the United States and the EU are the major destinations for most of Yingli's output, and the prices there for PV products cannot be reduced any further, the U.S. market is now off limits to Yingli after the ITC announced an anti-dumping duty of 249.96 percent and an anti-subsidy duty of 15.97 percent on Chinese-made PV products on November 7. Controversial debate has ignited at Yingli over whether to abandon the U.S. market.

Yingli is not the only victim, as 500 Chinese PV manufacturers face the same plight. On November 20, Guangdong Macro Co. Ltd. declared a retreat from the new energy industry, fearing that the American market may no longer be accessible.

Following on the heels of the United States, the EU has just launched a similar but more extensive investigation into China's PV products, which could be catastrophic for the Chinese PV industry. As 80 percent of China's PV products go to EU countries, once the EU imposes heavy tariffs like the United States, Chinese PV makers will be driven into a corner.

The major tasks ahead for the Yingli Group are to improve internal management, cut costs and intensify independent innovation, exploring downstream business like PV power stations to improve profitability, said Wang.

"If our products remain competNIKE AIR FORCE