EU minimum solar price scheme claims two more Chinese firms
Seraphim and Huashun are the latest Chinese firms to have left or been excluded from the EC's list of solar manufacturers meeting the minimum import price (MIP) for PV cells and modules. MIP was introduced as a way for Chinese companies to avoid anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties in the EU. However, some have called for the measure to be abandoned, claiming it is inhibiting the development of Europe's solar industry.
Two more Chinese PV manufacturers have been found to be in breach of the EU’s MIP agreement. It is a recurrent story this year, as more and more companies leave the scheme, amid calls from within the European solar market to abandon the trade barriers against Chinese companies.

The divisive EU minimum import price (MIP) for Chinese solar manufacturers was introduced as a means of Chinese companies avoiding anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties from the EU. The duties were introduced by the European Commission in December 2013, as a means of protecting the European solar manufacturing industry from Chinese dumping and subsidies undercutting prices. The majority of Chinese companies originally agreed to the MIP, which stipulated that they would sell solar cells and modules in the EU above a fixed price, to avoid tariffs being applied to their exports to the European market.

After investigation by the European Commission, Chinese companies Seraphim and Huashun have been found to be in breach of the MIP undertaking, and will now be excluded from continuing within the scheme. The decision affects over 180 invoices that the companies have already completed for business in the EU, and tariffs may now be applied in retrospect.

Not the first

These two companies now join a large number of Chinese companies to have been excluded from the scheme, for breaking the terms, or to have left voluntarily. In fact, most of the Chinese PV manufacturing heavyweights, including Trina Solar, JinkoSolar, JA Solar and Wuxi Suntech, have already voluntarily left the price undertaking, stating that the MIPs no longer accurately reflect the current market price, as selling prices have continuously declined, which negatively effect the competitiveness of those companies in those markets.

Others have faced the same fate as Seraphim and Huashun, as they have been excluded by the European Commission itself for breaching the MIP rules. Now that the exodus of Chinese companies from the agreement has gathered pace, voices within the European solar industry that want the measures abandoned completed have increased in volume.