Reflective Benefit
Trade frictions regarding solar power parts between China and the U.S. have positive impacts on the domestic solar companies.
According to the industry on Feb. 16, the U.S. government made a preliminary determination of imposing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of Chinese cells and modules last year. As it set the relevant regulations in stone last month, the domestic solar companies are being highly demanded in the U.S. solar market.
Last month, the U.S. government decided to impose anti-dumping duties of 26.71 percent to 165.04 percent and anti-subsidy duties of 27.64 percent to 49.79 percent for Chinese cell and module manufacturers. Also, it decided to impose anti-dumping duties of 11.45 percent to 27.55 percent for Taiwanese cells and modules. The U.S. government thinks that the Chinese government has exported the products at bargain prices using loopholes in the U.S. anti-dumping law.
With the decision of the U.S. government, it is inevitable that Chinese products get a blow on the price competitiveness in the local market. In particular, some Chinese manufacturers, which received higher tariffs, are forecast to withdraw from the U.S. market.
However, the circumstances will have positive impacts on South Korean companies.
Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a contract to supply 15MW modules at a price of 10 to 15 billion won (US$9.08 to 13.62 million) to a U.S. subsidiary of Germany’s solar power system integrator company Koners last month. It is already supplying some of them.
The company recorded sales of 317 billion won (US$287.79 million) in the PV business last year. Also, the company is aiming to increase sales in the sector to 354 billion won (US$321.38 million) this year, and particularly to turn over 40 percent of the total PV sales in the U.S. market.
Shinsung Solar Energy also expects that the reflected benefit from the trade regulations of the U.S. on Chinese products will begin in earnest this year. The company made a contract with SunEdison, a global solar energy company headquartered in the U.S., in April last year to supply 660MW solar cells for the next three years. In January this year, Shinsung Solar Energy attracted a paid-in capital increase in a third-party allocation for the investment of US$2 million (2.2 billion won) from SunEdison.
LG Electronics, which released a new solar module, called the MonoX NeON targeting the global market last month, also expects that it will benefit from U.S. trade regulations on Chinese products. On Feb. 1, LG Electronics announced that it will invest 160 billion won (US$145.26 million) in the production lines for n-type at the firm’s Gumi plants by July this year in order to mass produce the product.