India is about to impose antidumping duties on solar panels imported from Taiwan, the US, China and Malaysia to protect domestic solar manufacturers, according to a government statement seen by reporters on Friday.
The order, almost certain to anger India’s trading partners, sets duties of between US$0.11 and US$0.81 per watt and comes after an investigation that started in 2011.
The ruling by a quasi-judicial body has to be published by the Indian Ministry of Finance before it takes effect.
The decision adds to India’s growing trade disputes just before Narendra Modi takes office as prime minister tomorrow.
“Imposition of antidumping measures would remove the unfair advantages gained by dumping practices,” India’s Antidumping Authority said in its order released on Thursday.
Local manufacturers have long complained that US, Chinese and Malaysian companies enjoy state subsidies and are selling their products at artificially low prices to capture the Indian market.
India also believes that anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese solar producers by the EU and the US have further driven down the price of Chinese solar products, to the detriment of Indian suppliers.
India aims to raise its solar power capacity to 20,000 megawatts by 2022 from 1,700 megawatts currently.
It imported solar products worth nearly 60 billion rupees (US$1.03 billion) last year, according to an industry estimate.
Domestic manufacturers got less than 2 percent of that business.
“India’s solar manufacturing is now bound to revive and further increase with both local and overseas participation ensuring a robust supply chain,” H.R. Gupta of the Indian Solar Manufacturers’ Association said.
Under the new duties, importers will have to bear additional costs of between 5 percent and 110 percent while importing solar cells and panels from the US, Malaysia and China.
The US Trade Representative has filed two cases against India at the WTO, complaining that local content rules discriminate against US solar companies.
A senior US Trade Representative official said the US would look carefully at new duties, given the importance of the US solar industry.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last