Import tariff rates range from 0.14% to nearly 300% of the cost of shipped goods on certain solar cells and modules shipped from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
The United States Department of Commerce made a preliminary decision earlier this month on countervailing duties on solar cells and cells assembled into modules shipped from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Tariffs associated with countervailing duties (CVD) for businesses shipping from the four Southeast Asian countries range from 0.14% to 292.61% of the cost of shipped goods.
Clean Energy Associates (CEA) said the rates came in “lower than expected.” CEA said it does not expect the rates by themselves to present a barrier to continued exports to the U.S. market for most large, Tier 1 suppliers.
The October 1 preliminary decision only determined CVD rates. The other half of the investigation will determine antidumping (AD) tariff rates, which CEA said can be expected in late November or early December.
Commerce issued rates based on the finding of adverse facts available (AFA). Suppliers with AFA determination are subject to the highest range of rates (34.52% to 292.61%). No large, Tier 1 suppliers were given an AFA finding, said CEA.
Six of the seven mandatory respondents for the CVD investigation received rates between 0.14% (Trina Solar, Thailand) and 14.75% (QCells, Malaysia), and the highest non-AFA rate was the country-wide rate for Thailand, which was set at 23.06%, said an industry note from CEA.
“Smaller companies that received the higher AFA rates will likely be forced to withdraw from the U.S. market, although the limited scale of those exports will have a minimal impact on U.S. module availability,” said CEA.
CEA said that while the CVD rates are unlikely to threaten U.S. supply of solar modules on their own, the uncertainty of the AD tariff rates remains. AD tariffs are added to CVD tariffs, and “there is a risk that combined duties for some companies and countries will be high enough to create a meaningful barrier to continued exports to the United States,” said CEA.
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