Auxin Solar wins plea to tariff Southeast Asian exports
AD/CVD will be extended to solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
By Kelly Pickerel | August 18, 2023

The Dept. of Commerce has officially brought an end to an antidumping/countervailing duties (AD/CVD) investigation that has troubled the solar industry for the last 18 months.

The DOC’s final decision follows its preliminary determination: Chinese solar cell and panel producers are working in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as a way to avoid paying duties on Chinese-made solar goods that have been in place since 2012. AD/CVD rates will be extended to solar exports coming out of Southeast Asia — except for products from Hanwha Qcells (Malaysia), JinkoSolar (Malaysia) and Boviet Solar (Vietnam), which are officially exempt from the extended tariffs.

New East Solar (Cambodia) was originally an excluded company in the preliminary decision but has been removed in the final decision. Product from New East Solar will be tariffed.

The case was first brought to Commerce by California-based solar panel assembler Auxin Solar in March 2022. Auxin officials said that Chinese solar producers were performing “minor or insignificant” work in Southeast Asia in order to move the panel’s country-of-origin outside China to avoid paying tariffs. Commerce took up the investigation and preliminarily decided in December 2022 to extend the tariffs to Southeast Asia. The solar industry has been in a heated battled ever since.

“For years the Chinese have flouted the U.S. trade remedy laws and today, with Commerce’s affirmative country-wide circumvention decisions on Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, we’ve successfully closed these loopholes,” stated Mamun Rashid, CEO of Auxin Solar, in a statement.

While the U.S. industry slowly rebuilds its domestic solar panel manufacturing capacity, the country depends on solar imports from Southeast Asia. Solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam accounted for 79.3% of U.S. panel imports in Q1 2023, according to Panjiva data. New AD/CVD rates will not go into effect until June 6, 2024, on account of an executive action by President Joe Biden. A rush to import tariff-free solar panels from Southeast Asia before June 2024 can be expected.
Full article: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2 ... n-exports/

23 August 2023
US Department of Commerce Determines that Imports from Southeast Asia are Circumventing ADD/CVD Orders on Solar Cells and Modules from China
David Bond, Ian Saccomanno, Matt Solomon, Chunfu Yan

On August 18, 2023, the US Department of Commerce ("Commerce") issued its final affirmative determinations that solar cells and modules completed in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, or Vietnam (collectively, "Southeast Asia") using components from China, and exported to the United States, are circumventing the antidumping duty ("ADD") and countervailing duty ("CVD") orders on solar cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from China ("Orders").1 Duties will not be collected on imports before June 2024, because of a temporary duty suspension ordered by President Biden. This alert discusses the determinations and the potential effects on producers, importers, and purchasers of solar cells and modules from Southeast Asia.

Final Determinations

Commerce has determined that circumvention occurred during the review period through each of the four Southeast Asian countries and made "country-wide" circumvention findings designating Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam as countries from which circumventing solar cells and modules are being exported. Commerce also conducted company-specific inquiries, selecting two respondents from each of the four countries (mandatory respondents). All mandatory respondents, except the two mandatory respondents from Malaysia and one mandatory respondent from Vietnam, were found to have circumvented the duties on solar cells and modules from China by completing only "minor processing" prior to shipment to the United States or based on application of total adverse facts available. Based on its affirmative findings with respect to these mandatory respondents, Commerce concluded that other producers in each country are circumventing the duties, despite the fact that Commerce did not gather or consider information regarding their specific operations.

The final determination's findings mostly match the preliminary determination issued in December 2022.2 The main changes in the final determination concern individual companies. New East Solar (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., which Commerce found to be not circumventing in the Cambodia proceeding, refused to accept verification and therefore has been considered non-cooperative in the final determination. For the same reason, Vina Solar Technology Co., Ltd., which Commerce found to be circumventing in the Vietnam proceeding, has been considered non-cooperative. Consequently, these two companies are not eligible to use the "Chinese-Component" certification (discussed below). Furthermore, Vietnam Sunergy Joint Stock Company, a non-mandatory respondent in the Vietnam proceeding, has now been considered cooperative and therefore has been removed from the list of non-cooperative companies (and is eligible to use the "Chinese-Component" certification, discussed below).

Product Scope
The products subject to the final circumvention determinations are solar cells and modules that have been completed in Southeast Asia using parts and components from China, that are subsequently exported from Southeast Asia.
In full: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/us-de ... s-4694549/

Cambodia’s NE Solar to open a 2-GW solar panel factory in Phoenix
By Kelly Pickerel | September 7, 2023

Cambodia-headquartered solar panel manufacturer New East Solar Energy will start a 2-GW solar panel factory in Phoenix, Arizona.

This will bring NE Solar’s total manufacturing capacity to 6.7 GW, with the American factory joining its existing factories in Indonesia and Cambodia.

NE Solar will target commercial and utility-scale customers with its U.S. manufacturing, with a target production start date of late Q2 2024. The Phoenix site is expected to create 350 jobs.

“With the Inflation Reduction Act as a catalyst, we are thrilled to contribute to the U.S. economy by creating 350 jobs with this new venture,” said CEO Bill Huang. “We’re applying the same efficiency in the U.S. as we demonstrated with our Indonesia facility, which was operational within just six months of announcing. We expect to lean on this experience for our new facility.”

The building has already been selected and NE Solar is awaiting delivery of essential production equipment.

NE Solar has its own brand of solar panels while also manufacturing for Chinese Tier 1 brand ZNShine. After a lengthy investigation, NE Solar was included as a company circumventing Chinese antidumping/countervailing duties by working in Cambodia, and NE Solar product from Cambodia is now tariffed under the new AD/CVD rules. This new U.S. factory prevents any importing issues.
https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2 ... n-phoenix/