Why is the hottest EU deliberately delaying the ab

Why does the EU "deliberately delay" the abolition of the PV price commitment

Abstract: Chinese photovoltaic enterprises can avoid paying high anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs to the EU only if they make a commitment to sell photovoltaic products to Europe at a price of no less than 0.57 euros/watt

before that, at the end of February this year, the European Commission released a message that "it hopes to extend the implementation of the 'double anti' measures for photovoltaic products in China for 18 months and gradually cancel the measures."

even so, a lawyer who understands the Sino EU photovoltaic "double anti" dispute and the "price commitment" reached by the two sides said, "according to the situation at this stage, we speculate that the cost of 'price commitment' on various playing AIDS in kindergartens is increasing, and will continue in some form for a long time in the future."

"first of all, the above-mentioned plan to cancel the 'double anti' measures after 18 months, that is, the 'price commitment' can only be implemented after the vote of EU Member States. Secondly, only after this plan is passed, the time of 18 months will be calculated. That is to say, the 'price commitment' that expired as early as December 2015 will be delayed for at least two years before it can be revoked."

the above lawyer also believes that "with the passage of time, compared with the original, the current and future 'price commitments' will bring more and more pressure to Chinese photovoltaic enterprises"

in fact, it is to extend the implementation period of the "price commitment"

according to relevant reports, previously, the European Commission set a 24 month extension of solar anti-dumping measures against China. A few days ago, it announced that this plan had been adjusted to 18 months

however, it seems that China photovoltaic, which should be "grateful" to the EU, should not forget that as early as 2015, as the initiator of the EU photovoltaic "double anti" in China, the European Photovoltaic Manufacturers Association (euprosun) also submitted a complaint to the European Commission, accusing that over time, Chinese photovoltaic enterprises have traveled through Malaysia and other third places to sell their products to Europe to avoid tariffs

at that time, the industry speculated that the original intention of euprosun's appeal was to provoke the EU to "file an anti circumvention investigation" on crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components originating in China; The deeper intention may be to use the relevant materials obtained from the "anti circumvention investigation" as an excuse to urge the European Commission to make a decision to extend the "price commitment of materials selected compared with the previous" between China and the EU, which should expire in December 2015

before the expiration of the "price commitment" between China and the EU, the European Commission will review the implementation (also known as the "sunset review") to determine whether the "price commitment" is extended or revoked. In the "anti circumvention investigation", once it is found that there is a violation of the "price commitment" to evade tariffs, its implementation subject will be removed from the list of enterprises implementing the "price commitment" and imposed heavy taxes

on May 5, 2015, at the application of euprosun, the European Union decided to conduct an "anti circumvention investigation" on crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and key components originating in China

now, according to rough statistics, as of December 2016, 22 Chinese enterprises have been canceled or voluntarily withdrew from the price commitment in the EU's dual counter-dumping case against China photovoltaic. "These enterprises account for almost more than 90% of China's photovoltaic export volume and price." A person in the photovoltaic industry said to

what will happen to these enterprises that are "withdrawn" from the price commitment? Take an announcement issued by the European Commission at the end of 2016 as an example. At that time, the European Union said that because Chinese photovoltaic enterprises Ningbo Huashun Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu sirafe Photovoltaic System Co., Ltd. violated the relevant provisions of price commitments, it decided to cancel the price commitments of the above two Chinese enterprises in the dual counter Vail case against China photovoltaic from the date of the announcement, and impose anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties on them. On this basis, according to the original and final ruling of the EU's dual anti-dumping case against China photovoltaic, the anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties of Ningbo Huashun Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd. were 36.2% and 11.5% respectively, and the anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties of Jiangsu sirafe Photovoltaic System Co., Ltd. were 41.3% and 6.4% respectively

seriously deviate from the market level price

as early as August 2013, China and the EU reached a "price commitment" on China's crystalline silicon photovoltaic products exported to Europe. Although the official has not disclosed the specific content of the price commitment (price, quota, etc.), in fact, it is recognized in the industry that the lower limit of the price of China's crystalline silicon photovoltaic products exported to Europe in the "price commitment" is set at 0.57 euros/watt

at that time, the industry was worried that the restrictive policy (price commitment) would gradually release the negative impact on China's photovoltaic products, especially polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic products, from 2013 to 2015: if the production cost of photovoltaic products was reduced, the price of photovoltaic products of other competitors would be reduced, Chinese photovoltaic products that have to comply with the lower limit of 0.57 euro/watt will gradually lose their competitiveness in the European market

in more than three years from August 2013 to now, the above concerns have become a reality. On October 9, 2016, shendanyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce of China, introduced, "The minimum price under the 'price commitment' has seriously deviated from the market level price, and there are new situations such as the inability to fully predict the business model when negotiating and signing the agreement. In this regard, we hope that the biggest problem encountered by the European side in the development of the wood plastic industry is that the standard is unclear, and the current market situation will make appropriate adjustments to the minimum price level."

according to the data, in the first half of last year, the export volume of China's photovoltaic products to Europe fell by 30%. Some media questioned that this was related to the disqualification of some enterprises from price commitments. Shen Danyang said that the two were related to each other, but it was not the fundamental reason for the decline of China's photovoltaic export volume to Europe

Shen Danyang said, "the main reason for the decline in exports is that EU member states have gradually abolished the incentive policies for photovoltaic applications, resulting in a serious contraction of the market. If the EU continues to maintain the restrictive measures, the contraction will further deteriorate. It is hoped that the EU will completely terminate the photovoltaic anti-dumping and anti subsidy measures as soon as possible, so as to restore the photovoltaic market to a normal state."