US finalises levies on solar cell imports from India, Indonesia, Laos

The US has finalised high anti-dumping and countervailing duties on the import of solar cells and panels from India and two other countries, contending that producers and exporters benefited from unfair Government subsidies and harmed American industry.

The US Department of Commerce, on Friday, announced its final affirmative determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from India, Indonesia, and Laos.

The Department of Commerce has affixed anti-dumping margins of 123.04 per cent for Indian producers, 94.36 per cent for Indonesian producers and 65.43 per cent for producers from Laos.

It also set countervailing duty rates of 126.09 per cent for Indian producers, between 73.2 per cent and 173.7 per cent for Indonesian producers and between 82.03 per cent and 153.67 per cent for Laos producers.

The action was taken on a petition filed by The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade seeking investigations into allegedly illegal trade practices by largely Chinese-owned manufacturers operating in Laos and Indonesia, as well as companies headquartered in India.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) will now examine whether the subsidised imports harmed the US industry and make a final injury determination in the next 45 days.

The final injury vote is expected on October 14. If the USITC’s final determination is affirmative, the Department of Commerce will issue anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders by November 2 on the basis of the rates mentioned in Friday’s findings.

If the USITC’s determination is negative, the investigation will be terminated.

“These determinations confirm that producers and exporters from these countries have been dumping solar products into the US market at unfairly low prices and have benefited from countervailable subsidies, causing material injury to the domestic solar manufacturing industry,” The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade said in a statement.