Solar panel market under fire for foreign anti-dumping

On August 15, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, represented by Wiley Rein LLP, filed critical circumstances alleged with the US Department of Commerce (DoC) regarding surges of solar imports from Vietnam and Thailand that are harming the US solar industry.

Solar panel market under fire for foreign anti-dumping, photo Shutterstock

The trade committee based its allegations on a 39 per cent increase in imports from Vietnam and a 17 per cent increase from Thailand between April and June, when compared to January to March.

Notably, import levels from the two countries between April and June were higher than the average recorded import levels in the preceding six months. For instance, monthly imports from Vietnam surged to an all-time record high of over 2.5GW in June 2024.

In May, the DoC opened its investigation into the arguments in the petitions filed the previous month by the alliance. On June 7, the US International Trade Commission made a unanimous preliminary determination that dumped and subsidised imports from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand are currently harming US solar cell and module manufacturers.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said enterprises are answering questionnaires sent by the investigation agency. This is the first time the US has investigated a cross-border subsidy programme. Therefore, the process has been a challenging one. “Since this is an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation, the Vietnamese government will participate in the process of answering and explaining questions related to subsidies. This is to ensure that there is no discrimination between domestic enterprises and foreign enterprises in Vietnam. Currently, the competent agencies of the Vietnamese government are actively coordinating to participate in the case,” the MoIT said.

The US will investigate and make preliminary and final determinations of whether critical circumstances exist. The entire AD/CVD investigation will take approximately one year, with preliminary determinations due in late September for countervailing duties and November for antidumping duties. Final dumping, subsidisation, and injury determinations will likely occur in spring 2025.

The action comes less than a year after the DoC made its final determination that Chinese solar manufacturers were circumventing tariffs on solar cells and solar panels by shipping their products through Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Vietnam is currently considered a country that produces a large amount of solar panels in the region, and the plans to invest in new projects as well as expand factory capacity in Vietnam by Chinese solar panel manufacturers continue.

According to sources from the MoIT, most enterprises involved in the investigation are solar panel manufacturing enterprises with investment capital from China.

For example, Hainan Drinda will build a $450 million solar panel factory in the Hoang Mai II Industrial Park of the central province of Nghe An, and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

China-headquartered Jinko Solar, a photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer and energy storage system integrator, has poured $1.2 billion in Vietnam so far. The company currently has 14 production facilities, with three facilities outside China, located in Vietnam, Malaysia, and the US. It was also the first Chinese solar panel manufacturer to be listed on the US stock market, in 2010.

Up to now, IREX Energy JSC under Solar BK Group is the only domestic producer of solar cells but has a very low market share.

According to Trina Solar, a smart PV and energy storage solutions company, it has been steadily ramping up production at its manufacturing facility in northern Vietnam, demonstrating its commitment to the local market.

When the $203 million factory in the northern city of Thai Nguyen started production last August, it had 700 workers and was producing its industry-leading 210mm monocrystalline silicon wafers. Since then, the workforce has more than doubled to 1,500 workers, and the factory is now also producing solar cells and modules, representing more advanced stages of value-added manufacturing.

The facility is now steadily ramping up to its maximum annual production capacity of 6.5GW of wafers, 4GW solar cells, and 5GW modules.

Trina Solar to amplify its Vietnam footprint with third factory Trina Solar, a solar panel manufacturer based in China, is finalising plans to inaugurate its third production plant in Vietnam, a calculated move aimed at boosting its exports to the US following the imposition of US tariffs on its products manufactured in Thailand.

More chinese solar-tech manufacturers enter Vietnam Hoang Thinh Dat JSC and Chinese firm Hainan Drinda New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. signed an MoU on March 26 to develop a solar panel factory in the Hoang Mai II Industrial Park, located in Southeast Economic Zone of the central province of Nghe An.

US to end duty-free tariffs on Vietnamese solar panels The US' duty-free tariff treatment for solar products from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, will end in June, according to an announcement by the White House on May 16.

US solar group files complaint against rising solar imports from Vietnam and Thailand The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee (AASMTC) has filed a complaint with the US Department of Commerce regarding surges of solar imports from Vietnam and Thailand that are injuring the US solar industry.